The Legend Of Star
by Chuckles the Cheat
Summary: When a strange dragon egg is discovered during a meteor shower, it is soon learned that this is the beginning of a long lost tale that is told not to end well.
1. Bring Your Umbrellas

Chapter 1

Bring Your Umbrellas

It was dark out. Many visible stars were out and there wasn't a single cloud blocking the incredible view. Spyro and Cynder were finally able to just sit back and relax knowing Malefor was finally ridden of and to make things even better, there was about to be some type of meteor shower today. Spyro was glad the skies were clear of the clouds. The two of them were on their backs in a meadow full of various colored flowers just in front of the dragon city. Most of the other dragons were going to stay in the city to watch but Spyro wanted to get away from the city for once instead of being couped up inside it. Spyro looked to his right to see Cynder with her eyes closed.

"Hey you're not falling asleep are you?" Spyro asked as he gave her a slight nudge on the shoulder.

Cynder popped her eyes back open in an instant, "No, well kind of."

"What do you mean kind of?" Spyro gazed.

"Well it is past midnight and I only got like 6 hours of sleep last night."

Spyro made a small grin, "It will be worth it though you'll see. Tell you what, I'll stay up and you can rest. At the first sign of a shooting star I'll wake you."

Cynder looked over at her companion, "Aw thank you Spyro."

Cynder slowly closed her eyes and in a few minutes she was fast asleep. Spyro didn't mind staying up. As long as he was with her it made him happy. He never had the nerve to tell her how he felt of her though. He knew what to say but he couldn't ever get the nerve to actually say it to her. Spyro always became nervous even when he thought of telling her.

_Last Night_

"Cynder",Spyro called out as he entered Cynders bedroom. "You here?"

Spyro had been looking throughout the city for her for he wanted to tell her the truth. They were working on repairs in the dragon city and he and Cynder gotten separated somehow. He had been looking for her for a little while now but he never checked her home.

"In here",Spyro heard. He followed the voice and it was coming from the bathroom from which the wooden dark colored door with a tainted silver colored handle. The handle began turning making the door open to emerge Cynder. She walked out the bathroom and looked at Spyro with a smile.

"Oh, hey Spyro. what kept you?"

"Work, I kind of delivered those bricks to the wrong place so I sort of gotten lost."

"Typical of you",Cynder giggled as she sat down on her bed laying in front of the bathroom. Cynder set the small clock alarm on the bedside table on the right side of her bed to go off at 5 am. At the other side of her bed was the door Spyro just entered and a few paintings on the wall beside it. It was a sort of small room but Cynder always managed.

"Why getting up so early?" Spyro asked a he sat down on the bed beside her.

"That school needs to be repaired as soon as possible",Cynder sighed. "I can't believe those moles had the nerve to ask me to get up that early."

"The war destroyed most of the city but we almost have it all repaired. Frankly I'm glad repairs are almost finished. That gives us time for more important matters."

"Such as?",Cynder yawned as she lied down on the bed and closed her eyes. Spyro stood up to his feet to give her some room to lay.

"Such as . . .," Spyro began, but stopped nervously.

Cynder didn't respond making Spyro quickly ramble through his thoughts. "Cynder I . . ."

To Spyro it seemed an hour passes before he had the nerves to say those three words, "I love you."

Spyro exhaled deeply, heart pounding fast like, awaiting an answer. But there wasn't an answer. Spyro immediately felt disappointed in himself. "_It was too soon. I knew it was. She thinks I'm moving too fast. She's gonna think I'm a freak_", Spyro thought. But then he realized something. The reason Cynder wasn't responding was because she was fast asleep. Spyro hung his head low at his failed attempt. Spyro grabbed the covers and softly placed them on Cynder.

"I'll see you," he simply said and walked out the room, turning off the lamp on his way out making the room dark.

_Present Night_

Spyro stared into the stares thinking of that night. He looked over at Cynder with a examining eye. Spyro just lied in watch just waiting for the moment. Then the moment came. At the corner of Spyro's eye he saw a light shoot across the skies and out of sight. He smiled and nudged Cynder.

"Wake up Cynder, it's starting," Spyro whispered. Cynder stirred with a yawn as she opened her eyes and stretched her limbs.

"Did you say something?" she yawned.

"Yeah, it's about to start."

Cynder grinned, "Thanks."

"Let's just sit back and watch the show."

Spyro and Cynder just sat back in relaxation just awaiting for the show. A few minutes passed and Cynder was beginning to shut her eyes until Spyro nudged her again. She just forced a smile and stared back up into the sky.

"Are you sure that was a shooting star you saw?" Cynder asked in a low voice.

"I'm sure it was."

A few more seconds passed then Cynder smiled at what she saw. Another shooting star. She looked at Spyro with that same smile and back up at the skies. Then a few more shooting stars became visible. Pretty soon it was beginning to look like a real meteor shower. Shooting star after shooting star passed making Cynder soak up every moment she was having. It wasn't every day you got to sit back and watch a show for once. Then Cynder began noticing something odd. A small star sitting in the midst of the shooting stars just sitting there without movement.

"Spyro, do you see that star up there?" Cynder pointed.

"Uh, you mean the one up near the chronicler constellation?"

"No that one, the one that is just sitting up there. It just appeared up there a few seconds ago."

Spyro looked then realized what Cynder was talking of, "You mean the one that is getting bigger?"

"Yes that . . . bigger?",Cynder repeated then studied that same star again. Then Cynder too realized that it was getting bigger. "Yikes you're right, it is getting bigger."

Spyro squinted toward the star, "It looks as if its heading straight toward us."

"Good one, haha," Cynder laughed.

"No I'm being serious," Spyro said in a more serious tone. "That isn't no star! Get out of here now!"

"You're serious?" Cynder stood up on her feet as she looked back up at the so called star. The meteor shower was still going but it couldn't be helped.

"Move it!" Spyro commanded as he took Cynder's paw and began running away from the meadow. The falling star began getting closer and closer.

"Get out the way!" Spyro yelled as he pushed Cynder ahead. She fell a few feet in front of Spyro onto the grass.

"Spyro!" Cynder managed as the falling star collided against the ground making a unexpectedly small explosion near Spyro. Nothing but smoke was seen from Cynder's point of view, not even Spyro was spotted.

"Spyro!" Cynder shouted as she stood back up and immediately ran into the smoke. Heart pounding, Cynder searched throughout the smoke with desperation burning in her eyes. Then she heard a small cough coming toward her left. Her first reaction was to run toward the cough. Then she spotted Spyro laying on the ground. She could barely see him from the smoke but managed to slowly help him out. When they emerged from the smoke, Cynder fell to the unscathed grass along with Spyro.

"Are you alright?" was the first thing Cynder asked.

"I'll live," Spyro managed. "That blast carried me a few feet, I think I sprained my paw."

Cynder sighed a breath of relief, "What in the name of Malefor was that?"

"Don't say Malefor please," Spyro coughed.

"Oh sorry, bad karma," Cynder replied. "I'm checking this out, stay here and wait for me."

"Wait Cynder, it could be dangerous!"

Cynder squinted in the dissipating smoke. She was near where the object landed but it clearly slid a few yards for she saw a small trench it made in the meadow.

"Ruin my meadow why don't you? You're gonna pay for this you meteor thing."

She followed the trench the few yards and stumbled across a small rock in the ground where the trench ended. This rock was what she was looking for. A small breeze blew across the meadow carrying away any smoke that was left away from the scene. Then the object became clear under the full moonlight. This wasn't no ordinary asteroid. It was something she was not expecting.

"Spyro!" Cynder called. "Get over here if you can, this is something you're gonna have to see to believe!"


	2. Strange Encounters

Chapter 2

Strange Encounters

The wind was blowing at a slight breeze making the forest trees sway just a little bit. Bees buzzed as a silver dragon walked down a trail going on about her business. But she was in what looked like a rush. She was walking at a fairly fast pace. She kept glancing behind her down the path every few minutes making sure she wasn't being followed. She was carrying a package strapped onto her back. A small brown box not even big enough to fit a dragon egg in. Then the dragon stopped. An obstacle was blocking the trail. But not just any obstacle, it was a yellow dragon. The dragon was laying on the dirt trail motionless.

"Excuse me",the silver dragon said. The dragon on the ground didn't even twitch. The silver dragon walked over to him and began shaking him on the shoulder. "Hey wake up."

Then the yellow dragon stirred. The silver dragon studied the dragon laying there for a few seconds. The dragon had yellow scales all over him except from what looked like a darker shaded diamond both his front arms. His snout was a little shorter than normal and his gray colored horns curved backwards. His wings were blue with a slight green tint to them along with the membrane which was just a slightly lighter color. His underbelly was a darker gray than his horns and his tail was average length for his size which seemed to be around the size of Cynder. The silver dragon guessed he was about her age from the looks of things.

The silver dragon became slightly startled to this stranger but couldn't help but ask. "What are you doing laying on the ground like that, and out here where it's dangerous."

The yellow dragon shook his head and opened his eyes to see the silver dragon standing in front of him. Immediately the yellow dragon began panicking, "What the heck are you! Get away from me!"

He closely watched the silver dragon with a careful eye. Nothing but silver scales from what he saw and her underbelly seemed to be a lightly tinted blue. Her horns were a sort of darker silver than her scales and they were left uncurved. Her tail was a little longer than his own but it had what looked like a blade on the end of her tail. The yellow dragon swallowed about that blade, couldn't help but imagining it against his throat, ready for the blade to just slip.

The silver dragon cocked an eye, "What do you mean what am I? I am a dragon, same as you."

The yellow dragon immediately looked at himself, "What? What sort of madness is this? I must be dreaming there's no way I'm a dragon!"

The silver dragon couldn't help but show a smile at his behavior, "Well believe it, you must have been drinking or something and passed out out here." The silver dragon walked closer to the yellow dragon, "My name is Kaida."

The yellow dragon didn't move as Kaida slowly walked closer toward him, "My name is . . . Steven."

"Steven?",Kaida giggled. "That's sort of a . . . weird name don't you think?"

The yellow dragon staggeringly stood up facing Kaida, "Look, I'm not supposed to be here. I am a human."

"Human? You look dragonish to me",Kaida sat down a few inches away from the yellow dragon. It didn't seem to bother him anymore.

The yellow dragon hung his head low, "Why am I a dragon? There is no explanation. I remember going to sleep in my bed last night and now . . . I'm a dragon." He looked back up at Kaida, "Are there other dragons?"

"Oh yes tons. In fact I'm heading over to the city on the other side of this forest to deliver this package I have." Kaida looked at the dragons eyes and could see total confusion. Kaida's mind was still a little cloudy but somehow, she believed what he was saying. "Well we are gonna have to come up with another name for you other than Steven."

"What's wrong with Steven?"

"It's not dragon-like, it's just weird. Listen if some of the dragons knew you were a human they might try and hurt you. Most of us dragons dislike humans."

"Have you ever seen a human before?",the yellow dragon asked as he looked down the trail past Kaida.

"Yea evidently they look just like us."

"Funny, alright then, how about . . . err, Autumn?"

"That won't do",Kaida quickly said. "Another name please."

"How about Salian? Or Amiel? Or how about Gilad or Zaken?"

"How about Cosmo?",Kaida suggested.

The yellow dragon thought then said, "It sounds weird."

Kaida giggled, "You are weird so it suits you, and you're yellow sort of like the cosmos."

"The cosmos are yellow?"

"It's settled then, your new dragon name is Cosmo. Its way better than that crappy Steven name anyway. Your name should be Cosmo all the time."

"Right, thanks for the name. So now what? What am I going to do?"

Kaida sat for a second while Cosmo just pattered in front of her, "Come with me then."

Cosmo began, "Well I don't know if I'm ready to go with . . ."

"Oh come on",Kaida interrupted. "You have nowhere else to go and you will be completely lost in this forest if I leave you and not to mention those . . . nevermind. Just come on",Kaida said then grabbed Cosmo by the paw and began forcefully pulling him with her.

Cosmo just obeyed not knowing what else to do. She did make a point thought. He had nowhere else to go. A few minutes of walking past while Cosmo tried to remember what happened to him. The more he tried to remember the more he seemed to forget. Then he noticed he was still in the grip of Kaida. It wasn't a forceful grip or was more of a soft grip.

"_You're kidding?_",Cosmo thought.

Cosmo began pulling his paw loose from Kaida's grip. Kaida took notice and immediately let loose Cosmo's paw.

"Sorry about that",Kaida apologized breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Cosmo yawned, "It's alright." Then he looked at the small box on Kaida's back. "So what's in the box?"

"I don't know I'm just here to deliver it",she replied.

Cosmo looked at it trying to picture what could be inside. But he kept drawing blanks, after all it was the unfamiliar dragon world he didn't know what to expect.

"How about we just shake it a little?",Cosmo said then suddenly stumbled to the ground. Kaida immediately turned her attention to him.

"You alright?"

"Yea I just tripped over",Cosmo began but noticed there was nothing there to trip over. "Air I guess."

"Air?",Kaida smirked. "How do you trip over air?"

"I don't know I'm still getting used to being a dragon. Oh hey I have wings",Cosmo said then began uselessly flapping them.

"You want to fly no?",Kaida said.

"Well, yea maybe."

"Maybe?",Kaida said as the two began walking down the trail again. "What do you mean by maybe? Aren't you confident in your unseen ability to fly?"

"Ok you just went from an IQ of 50 to 150 in seconds."

"What is IQ?",Kaida asked.

"Nothing, yours just went back to 50 though. Just some useless stuff you don't need to worry about. It rots the brain."

"Or more like the opposite",Kaida replied.

"You know what? Your name should be Cosmo",Cosmo chuckled.

Kaida thought about what he said for a second then shook her head, "I didn't get it."

Cosmo just stayed silent for a few seconds then replied, "It'll come to you later."

"I'm sure it will",Kaida quipped.

The conversations went silent after that. Twenty minutes passed. Cosmo was still thinking of the possibilities this was just a total dream while Kaida tended to look back a few times. Cosmo noticed but didn't think any of it. Then suddenly Cosmo heard a rustle toward his right. He quickly faced that direction trying to see what made it. Spotting nothing he decided it was a rabbit or squirrel so the two of them moved on. Five minutes later he heard another rustle. This time it sounded closer and whatever was making the noise wasn't a squirrel.

"Did you hear that?",Cosmo whispered turning to Kaida.

Kaida nodded, "Yea, we should get going."

"Wait, don't you think we should check it out? I heard some rustling earlier also."

"Probably a skunk. Filthy animal so we should go faster."

"Wait here",Cosmo shuddered. "I'm going to check it out."

"Cosmo",Kaida frowned. "Be careful."

Cosmo smiled, "Always."

Cosmo walked toward his right where the noise came from hoping for it to happen again. After a few seconds it did happen again. It was a little farther off the path coming from what looked like a small berry bush. Cosmo tilted his head down toward the bush trying to peek inside. Then he heard a rattling noise.

"Oh, crap."

Kaida grew surprised when Cosmo got up and took off like a flash of lightning back toward the path. He ran behind Kaida where he looked over her shoulder in fear.

"What is the mighty creature that frightens you?", Kaida smirked.

"It was a rattlesnake! And it was huge! It could have bitten me!"

"Actually rattlesnakes are more afraid of us than we are of them but when it comes to you I'm guessing its the other way around?"

"No, its just it caught me by surprise thats all. I wasn't expecting to see a rattlesnake in there."

Then suddenly Cosmo just had the strangest feeling like he was being watched. He looked around almost frantic like making Kaida wonder what was wrong with him again. She couldn't help but ask, "What is it now?"

"Someone else is here. I know it, I can feel it."

"Ok Mr. Cosmo you just need a place to sleep and food to eat. After sleeping for a long time on the cold hard dirt for a while it must have finally gotten to you."

"No, but . . . ah forget it. I don't care anymore."

Kaida looked down the trail trying to put together figures in her head, "It shouldn't be too much longer until we get to the city. Maybe about ten minutes or so, depends if the dragon that's watching us doesn't decide to show up."

"You're really irking me."

"Irking? Is that even a word?",Kaida murmured.

Cosmo sighed, "It's my word, it means you're getting annoying."

"Oh then irking to you too",Kaida replied.

Cosmo just shook his head, "Out of all dragons why her?"

"Aw its not that bad Cosmo",Kaida began walking down the trail along with Cosmo. "Just wait until you meet my friends."

"_Oh god_",Cosmo thought.

"Actually I don't have any friends",Kaida frowned.

"I wonder why, I mean I wonder why not? Your'e a good . . . dragon?"

"Aw thank you Cosmo",Kaida replied then suddenly gave a hug to Cosmo. "You're the best."

Cosmo seemed a little confused by the sudden hug but returned the hug in favor. "It's no problem Kaida. I really am surprised you don't have any friends."

"Well I have one",Kaida replied as the two began walking down the path again.

"Really? Who is that?"

"His name is Cosmo, I just met him like thirty minutes ago. He's a real nice guy you should meet him."

"Yea sounds like a swell guy I would love to meet him", Cosmo sarcastically said.

Then suddenly Cosmo was hit in the side by something making him fall over in pain. He looked behind him to see someone in a cloak standing behind him with a large sledgehammer type weapon in his grasp. He was fairly tall but as for his identity it was a mystery.

"Cosmo!",Kaida exclaimed then turned toward the dark figure. "What do you want!"

The dark figure just stood there motionless as if it were waiting for something. Kaida quickly helped Cosmo to his feet but it was clear to her that he was in pain.

"Why did you do that? What do you want? I don't have any money so if you have come to rob me its not your lucky day!"

"I come only to rob you of your current possession",the dark figure said. It was a deep sounding voice and sounded around mid-aged but Cosmo couldn't tell.

"You mean this box? What do you want with this box?"

"It holds a path, I holds knowledge I seek. I must have it."

Cosmo struggled to stand, "Kaida, don't. You're supposed to deliver that package to the city."

"But what about you? I can't Cosmo. I'm giving him the box, I'm not losing the only friend I have."

Kaida began cutting through the ropes holding the box in place on her back with her claws. One by one the ropes came loose until the box fell onto the dirt with a small poof. The dark figure leaned over to pick it up but Cosmo acted fast by pouncing on the character making them both tumble to the ground. The dark figure laid under Cosmo's grasp as he raked his claws across the dark figures chest. The figure just laughed as it threw Cosmo off of himself and stood back up to his feet.

"Bad mistake",the dark figure said as it held his two arms out in front of him. A small ball of darkness began forming over Cosmo.

"No!",Kaida exclaimed. Cosmo quickly covered his eyes as a searing flame headed straight over him setting the dark figure's cloak on fire.

"Agh! You haven't seen the last of me!",the dark figure exclaimed as it just levitated off the ground and took off into the skies before his cloak was completely burned.

Kaida ran over to Cosmo and slowly helped him to his feet, "Are you alright Cosmo?"

Cosmo held his right aching side as he stood up, "I'll live. Who was that guy?"

Kaida slightly shook her head, "I don't know, luckily that hit you took wasn't too awful bad. Thankfully you have pretty hard on scales."

"Speaking of which, thanks Kaida. He would have toasted me."

"What are friends for?"

_Twenty Minutes Later_

_Dragon City Elder Hall_

Cosmo and Kaida entered the Elder's main room where Kaida saw the Elder patiently waiting by his desk. The elder has black scales with orange colored horns. His wings had a orange tint with a small white spike at the tip of each wing. His underbelly was a maroon color and his tail ended with a triangle shape. He had red spines down his back all the way to his tail and he went by the name of Shivertail. But some dragons knew it wasn't his real name.

Cosmo looked around in the larger than average room. The ceiling must have been forty feet high but a yellow chandelier hung low from it. To his left was a bookcase filled with books from the past of the city to what they hope to accomplish in the future. Several chairs were evenly spaced out on the wall to Cosmo's right with a small painting hanging above them. The painting looked liked a picture of the elder standing beside another dragon the same size as him. Another door was seen past all the chairs on the wall to Cosmo's right and a window was placed behind the elder's desk. The elder showed a hand toward the nearest chair for Cosmo so Cosmo sat down on it. It was more comfortable than it looked. A lot softer too. Even the carpet below Cosmo's feet were soft. Cosmo looked across the room on the Elders desk. There were several important looking supplies on the desk from documents to family photo's. Kaida walked in front of the desk and handed over the box she had been waiting to deliver for so long. Cosmo smiled at her success.

"Thank you Kaida. It is greatly appreciated. Now if you and your friend would could you leave me be for just a little while?"

"Of course Shivertail."

Shivertail smiled at the response he heard. Cosmo stood back up and followed Kaida out of the room and out of the hall itself, back into the crowded streets of the dragon city. Cosmo was pretty amazed at the city. It was pretty prosperous and outgoing but he did pass a few places that seemed damaged. The streets were pretty empty due to the damages in the city. Most of the dragons took some time out of their day to assist in the rebuilding of the city. Then out of the blue, Kaida starting laughing. Cosmo looked over at her with a startled look.

"What's so funny?"

Kaida continued laughing for a few seconds before managing to say, "Cosmo! You were calling me weird! I get it now!"

Cosmo just shook his head, "It took you long enough."


	3. Three's A Crowd

Chapter 3

Three's a Crowd

Spyro limped his way over to Cynder wondering what she found. When he finally managed to get beside Cynder he too was shocked.

"Is that what I think it is?",Spyro said wide-eyed.

Cynder walked over to the object for a closer look. "I think it is Spyro. It's . . . an egg."

"Yea but, how? Eggs don't just fall from the sky, even if this one did how did it survive the impact? It should have been destroyed."

Cynder just stared at the black egg, "I don't know, but maybe we should get this egg out of here. Who knows what creature is inside it."

"We should tell someone about this",Spyro replied. "Besides I'm sure someone must have saw this thing fall from the sky. Hard to miss a falling fiery egg especially if everyone was looking up in the sky."

Cynder slowly placed her paw on the egg then quickly withdrew in reaction. "It's a little hot."

"You call yourself a dragon?",Spyro chuckled. "Let me."

Spyro made his way over to the egg and placed his paw on it. "Hey, its not hot at all."

"What?", Cynder placed her paw back on the egg but withdrew it in reaction again. "It is too hot, its scorching."

Spyro slowly picked up the egg with both paws with his arms outstreched. "Guess I have the magic touch then. To me this egg is cold."

"Whatever",Cynder replied then looked toward the city. "Lets show this thing to Shivertail. He might know what it actually is."

_Ten minutes later_

Cynder knocked on Shivertail's office door then waited, "Please say we didn't go through all those crowds for nothing."

"You say something?",Spyro asked looking deeply at the egg. He was rubbing on the side of it where it seemed as the black color was beginning to fade. "I don't think this egg is black",Spyro said.

"And I don't think Shivertail is even here",Cynder sighed. "What about the egg?"

"Look",Spyro showed the part of the egg he was rubbing. On closer inspection the black color was faded unlike the rest of it. "I think its black because."

"It was on fire maybe?",Cynder interrupted.

"And falling through the atmosphere. Wherever this egg came from, it definitely isn't from around here."

Cynder thought for a second then replied, "Maybe we should go wash it thoroughly back home. Let's get going, from the looks of it Shivertail has been long gone."

"Everyone is going to be staring at us again",Spyro began following Cynder back down the hall. The floor was so spotless Spyro could see his own reflection. It was clearly made of top quality marble. The ceiling was a little ways up for the taller dragons and the hall was a bit wider than your average hall. After a few seconds they made it to the end of the hall and it opened up into a large room with an orange carpet on the floor with a fireplace with a small fire in it toward the right of Spyro. There were three couches, one in front of the fireplace along with two rocking chairs beside it, the second and third couches were facing each other in the middle of the room with a small table with papers and a few books on top of it. Two chandeliers were hanging up high but they weren't lit making the fireplace the only suitable light in the room. Straight ahead of Spyro was the exit. There were some doors on the left and right but he didn't know where they lead.

Spyro and Cynder walked to the door in front of them and Cynder opened it for Spyro for he was the one carrying the egg. The two walked outside into the streets but to Spyro's surprise, everyone was gone.

"Where did everyone go off to?",Spyro asked in a silenced tone.

"Home maybe? It is almost one o'clock in the morning."

"What are we going to do about this egg? That's if it even is an egg."

"I can take it home with me. I have a place I can put him."

"Him?", Spyro repeated.

"Yes him. There is a living creature inside this egg after all."

"Who knows? It could be a plain metiorite shaped like an egg",Spyro said as he carefully handed over the egg. Cynder placed a paw on it but quickly had the reaction of quickly pulling her paw back.

"What is it?",Spyro asked.

"I . . . don't know. It's still scorching hot."

"Hot?",Spyro murmered. "It's fine to me. I can just come along with you so you won't have to carry it if it's so . . . hot."

Cynder looked at the egg then at Spyro then nodded, "Ok then. Thanks."

Spyro just smiled in response and Cynder began leading him down the lightly dimmed streets. Cynder couldn't help but wonder along the way, why is it that the egg is scorching to her but not to Spyro?

_Some Time Later_

"Here, that ought to do it."

Spyro just looked at the little nest Cynder made beside her bed on top of a chair. Spyro slowly placed the egg on top of the nest made of spanish moss and he and Cynder both looked at the egg with wonder.

"Well then, I better be heading home then so you can get some shut-eye."

"Wait",Cynder reacted.

Spyro waited in silence for a few moments waiting for Cynder but asked anyways, "Yes? What is it?"

"I was wondering if . . . I don't know, nevermind",Cynder sighed.

"Come on, tell me",Spyro smiled.

Cynder sat for a second then replied, "I was wondering if you wanted to stay over here with me for tonight. It's late and I don't want you to", then Cynder stopped.

"Cynder, I",Spyro began but couldn't think of the words.

"It doesn't matter",Cynder said as she pounced onto her bed and curled up in what looked like an uncomfortable position. "If you want to go then you can. I was just suggesting."

"I'll stay",Spyro interrupted. Cynder looked over at him standing beside the egg, then a smile came to her face.

"Thank you Spyro, but I have to tell you the truth."

"Truth?",Spyro asked but couldn't help but ramble through his mind._ "Is she going to say what I think she is going to say? I don't know if I'm up to this."_

Cynder took a deep breathe, "Yesterday, I think someone was trying to break into my home."

Spyro frowned, "That's horrible, who was it?! When I through with him he'll think twice before even knocking on a door!"

"I don't know",Cynder responded. "Last night, about twenty minutes after you left. I heard some noises coming from just outside my window. Then I heard what sounded like someone trying to open the window. Then suddenly the noises stop and whoever it was left."

Then Spyro knew why Cynder asked him to stay with her, she was frightened that the character would come back.

"As long as I'm here, whoever it was will regret trying to break in your home if they come again. I promise."

"Thank you Spyro."

Spyro smiled and looked over at the egg. He was in thought for a few minutes while Cynder slowly dozed off. A few minutes later Spyro looked over at Cynder then hopped onto the bed beside her. A faint snore came from her so Spyro was careful not to wake her. Spyro slowly fell asleep to the comfort of Cynder.

Spyro woke up around an hour earlier to some noise coming from outside. Spyro was immediately wide awake when he remembered what Cynder said about what happened after he left last night.

Spyro remembered the words, _"I think someone was trying to break into my home."_

"Sleep tight",Spyro whispered as he slowly got off the bed without disturbing Cynder.


	4. Hello Again

Chapter 4

Hello Again

_Night of the Meteor Shower_

_Past Midnight_

Kaida was showing Cosmo throughout the dragon city showing him all of the sites to see and places to go. Cosmo was amazed at the city.

_"For dragons, they do a pretty bang up job with this city. It's . . . beautiful. And Kaida has been so nice. I couldn't imagine what I would have done if she wasn't there in the forest with me. And that meteor shower was incredible. But there was something odd about it. I thought I saw a falling meteor but no one else seemed to notice it. Oh well",_ Cosmo thought.

Kaida stopped in front of a busy looking building, "And this is the school. I used to go to school here. Well used to."

"School? Amazing, we have school in our world too",Cosmo explained.

"Really? I would have never guessed, I thought us dragons were the only ones with a school. Heck those fairies don't know what is right and what is left but we have a school!"

"Fairies? Are there any other mythical creatures I should know about?",Cosmo grinned.

"Umm, there are fauns, I saw one before. Have you ever seen a minotaur before?"

Cosmo shook his head, "How could I? I was just born two hours ago."

Kaida giggled, "Oh yea, that's right. Well I don't know if they are still existing or not. I heard they were going extinct or something."

Cosmo watched all the other dragons in front of the school. It seemed it was still under construction.

"Any idea what happened to it?"

"I don't know what happened to them. They used to run wild but one day."

"Not the minotaurs",Cosmo interrupted. "The school, what happened to it?"

"Oh, can't believe I never mentioned this to you before. All the construction sites you have been seeing, they are damages from the war we had."

"War? So sudden, how long ago?"

"Like, four days ago."

"So the war was between the dragons I'm guessing and . . . ?"

"Another dragon named Malefor. He was an evil dragon. He was supposed to be a special dragon like Spyro but in his early days he began to have a quench of thirst for power."

"I see where you're going with this. I think I can piece together the puzzle. So you say there's another dragon like Malefor?"

"Same in color, but not in heart. I seen Spyro before but I never spoke with him in person before. It's kind of frightening."

"Frightening? How, he's a dragon like the rest of you?"

"He's like, a hero. Him and Cynder. Cynder is a dragon that used to be evil from what I heard. Something about being cursed by the dark master or something. Spyro saved her and they both took on Malefor. I'm sure you can piece the rest in."

"Yea I guess I could. So where does this Spyro live?"

Kaida thought for a second then answered, "Not sure. But I think I know where Cynder lives."

"Then take me there, we are gonna meet this Spyro."

"What? But it's almost one in the morning. I was wanting to get some sleep. And Cynder might not like it that we would visit her at this time of the night."

"Hmm, maybe you're right. Sorry I was getting ahead of myself."

Kaida smiled, "Of course I could show you where she lived at because from here we pass by her home to get to mine."

"Alright then, let's go!"

_Ten Minutes Later_

Cosmo was beginning to become a little drowzy. All of the walking with Kaida and seeing all the sites with her and the strange encounter with that strange being had made him tired. But he wanted to see this Spyro character.

Kaida suddenly stopped in front of a lonely small house on the left side of the street. A small white picketed fence was surrounding the territory and two windows was on the front of the house. It was evidently only one story in height and the roof was slightly at a diagnal angle on both the front and back. In the small front yard was some grass taking a brown effect with its occasional daisy flower here and there. The chimney on top the house was a little stubby and short but Kaida didn't see any smoke. She studied it for a few moments then smiled. "This is it, Cynder's house."

Cosmo looked at it for a few seconds then turned to Kaida, "Doesn't look like much for a hero."

"She's only been a hero for four days though. And she has been quite busy helping with the repairs lately. From what I've heard she is going to be helping with the school repairs tomorrow morning around five."

"Woah five in the morning? Why so early?"

Kaida looked over at her friend, "Shivertail wanted the school finished as soon as possible so he put someone in charge of its construction. That someone evidently doesn't like Cynder too awful much."

"That's just stupid, does Shivertail even know of this?"

Kaida shook her head, "I don't know, I couldn't picture him making dragons work that hard though." Kaida turned her head back down the street. "Well, we should get moving. To my house. Have you seen my house yet Cosmo?"

Cosmo didn't say anything. His silence answered her obvious question.

Kaida giggled, "Oh yea, so forgetful am I?"

"Indeed",Cosmo replied.

The two began walking back down the dark street but then suddenly Cosmo stopped. Kaida looked back in curiosity, "What is it?"

"Did you hear something Kiada?"

"I heard you does that count as something? Yay I'm not deaf!"

Cosmo listened in harder then looked over at the bushes to the right of Cynder's house. "It's coming from there, in those bushes."

Kaida couldn't help but saying, "Be careful Cosmo, it could be another evil snake of terror."

Cosmo ignored the comment and slowly walked past the picketed fence and onto the grass. The same rustle came from the bush but whatever it was, it was making a run for it.

Cosmo couldn't tell who it was in the darkness but yelled, "Hey you!"

The figure didn't stop. It jumped the fence and ran off into the pitch black darkness where Cosmo couldn't see it, but he ran after it regardless. He too jumped the fence and ran straight into the darkness.

"Cosmo!",Kaida yelled as the front door to Cynder's house opened. Kaida turned her attention over to the front door and to her surprise, Spyro was there.

"You!",Spyro exclaimed and ran over to Kaida. Kaida was speechless. "So you have been the one snooping around Cynder's home! If I were you I would start running",Spyro said as he stopped in front of Kaida.

"No no it wasn't me! It was someone else! I saw him!",Kaida explained.

Spyro carefully examined the silver dragon, "Why should I believe you?"

"Look, Spyro, my friend ran after him into the pitching darkness you see behind Cynder's paradise. Whoever it was was fast and I'm worried."

Spyro looked over into the darkness with a squint, "Your name?"

"Kaida, my friend's name is Cosmo."

"Cosmo?", Spyro repeated. "I'll go find your friend, you stay here Kaida."

"No Spyro, it's pitch black darkness back there!"

"I know what is back there. It's a small forest in the middle of the city. You stay here where it's safe."

"No, I'm going with you! You have no idea how much Cosmo means to me!"

Spyro cocked an eye, "You mean, relationship wise?"

"No",Kaida immediately said. "He's the only friend I have, I'm going with you!"

Spyro couldn't resist, "Fine, but stay close."

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo ran with only a noise of the crackling leaves the character Cosmo was chasing. Cosmo was blind in the darkness. His heart was rushing, adreneline pumping, but he didn't know why he was doing this. He didn't get to even see this so called Cynder but yet, he was chasing an obvious future thief through the forest.

"_Where is he? I'm loosing him! The sound is fading! I must run faster!_"

But the sound was still fading and Cosmo was beginning to slow down due to fatigue. Then just so sudden Cosmo began hearing some other noise. It wasn't what he was chasing, it was someone saying something in his head.

"_Your courage has been proven please allow me to reveal one of your hidden strengths._"

"Excuse me?",Cosmo said. "Who are you? Where are you?"

Then suddenly everything in Cosmo's sight turned bright. Cosmo covered his eyes in reaction but he still saw brightness. Then the brightness was gone. He uncovered his eyes and everything in the forest was clear. It was a colorless view, but he could see clearly in the darkness.

"_Night vision?_", Cosmo thought then noticed the figure still running in the distance. Immediately he ran after him with a renewed vigor. As the figure was beginning to tire out Cosmo was able to gain distance on him.

The figure thought he was in the clear. He turned around and stopped with a evil grin on his face. The figure stood up as Cosmo approached making Cosmo slow down to a stop a few feet away from the figure. Then Cosmo realized who it was.

"You!",Cosmo roared. "What were you doing at Cynder's?"

The dark figure with the cloak frowned, "Why would you want to know? Cosmo is it?"

Cosmo hesitated, "Why?"

The figure hissed, "You will soon find out Cosmo. But for now I must leave. The gods will be watching you . . . Steven."

Cosmo grew wide-eyed, "How did you know?"

The figure grinned, "If I were you, I would get used to the dragon life for a long time. You're stuck here, just like I am."

"Cosmo!"

Cosmo looked back and saw two dragons. He guessed one of them was Kaida but he couldn't tell who the other one was. Cosmo looked back in front of him and the figure was gone. Cosmo quickly looked around but the figure was nowhere to be spotted. Cosmo turned back around and began his short walk to Kaida.

Kaida was startled by the sound of Cosmo's voice, "Kaida?"

"Yes Cosmo, it's me. I'm with Spyro he's here to help."

Cosmo chuckled, "I know it's you Kaida, I can see both of you clearly. With the exception of everything being colorless in the dark."

"Wait a second",Spyro interrupted. "You can see in this pitch black."

"I'll have to explain on the way back. Follow me you two so we won't get lost."

Kaida could barely see Cosmo but managed to follow him with Spyro behind. It was quiet for the first few moments but Spyro broke the silence, "So who was it?"

"Who was who? You mean that dragon that was at Cynder's?",Kaida asked.

"Yea",Spyro replied.

"He wasn't a dragon",Cosmo answered. "Kaida, do you remember that cloked character we stumbled into in the forest?"

Kaida answered after a second of silence, "Yea, it was him?"

Cosmo uselessly nodded then said, "Yea, I don't know why he was here. He disappeared without a trace."

"Wait, dark cloked figure?",Spyro repeated.

"We don't know much about him either Spyro. We know as much as you do at this point."

After a few minutes of walking the trio finally arrived back at Cynder's house. Spyro yawned as the colors rushed back into Cosmo's eyes. Cosmo guessed it was only in the dark that everything turned colorless but it would be quite useful in the future. Spyro walked up to the front door of Cynder's and stopped.

"I'm sorry I can't thank you properly for warding off that person away from here. So I was wondering if you two were available tomorrow at noon?"

Kaida and Cosmo looked at each other. Cosmo just shrugged and Kaida nodded, "We sure are."

Spyro showed a small grin, "Meet me and Cynder at Lateef's restaurant tomorrow if you can make it. I'll buy you two some lunch."

"Thanks Spyro but it's not necessary",Cosmo replied.

Spyro shook his head, "I won't take no for an answer. So be seeing you two. I gotta get back inside. Hopefully Cynder is still sleeping."

Kaida smiled, "Okay, see you tomorrow!"

Spyro smiled and walked back in the house and shut the door. The last thing Cosmo heard was the sound of footsteps going through the house as he and Kaida began walking to Kaida's house where Cosmo was unpatiently waiting for a good snooze.


	5. The Basics

Thanks for reviewing Guardian117! Cheers and hoping I can get internet access more often!

Chapter 5

The Basics

Cosmo looked peacefully asleep on the couch in Kaida's living room. A fire was dancing in the fireplace but it was still a little dark and shady. Kaida was sitting in the chair in front of the fireplace trying to relax for she couldn't sleep. There was too much in her mind at the moment.

The living room carpet had a somewhat expensive looking design on it, it was a red carpet with golden colored swirls here and there and at the edges of the carpet, a golden line. The carpet covered the entire room floor. Kaida's home only consisted of the living room, a kitchen located directly behind Kaida, and a bathroom beside that kitchen. One room was on the other end of the living room while the exit was to the right of Kaida. There was a closet in her room but she hardly ever used it.

But Cosmo was having some dream going on in his head. Kaida didn't notice for he wasn't tossing or turning, he seemed satisfied.

In Cosmo's dream, he was in a dark and danky place. His powers had no effect. But he wasn't frightened at all. He sat in one spot with his eyes closed like he was concentrating on something. But he felt like something else was there with him, but the darkness engulfed whatever it was.

_Morning 7:14 A.M._

Kaida was in the kitchen putting something together that made Cosmo wake up sniffing.

"_Smells like, bacon."_

Cosmo stood up and stretched his limbs and groggily made his way to the kitchen. Kaida had her backed turned for she was cooking on the stove. Cosmo snuck up behind her and looked over her shoulder. Whatever she was cooking Cosmo realized it wasn't bacon.

"_What is that?"_

Kaida sensed a presence and slowly turned her head. She suddenly became startled that it was Cosmo. "How long have you been sitting there? You're like a ninja."

"Long enough to know that isn't bacon. What is it?"

"It's . . . lamb."

"Lamb?",Cosmo muttered. "Sounds . . . delightful."

"What do you mean?",Kaida asked returning to her cooking. "Haven't you ever had lamb before?"

"No, never have and don't think I wanna."

"Lamb isn't that bad, if you would just try it you'll like it."

Kaida put some meat on a small wooden plate and handed it over to Cosmo. Cosmo stared at it unsure if he wanted to even have a little taste. He sniffed it. It did smell a little like bacon and Cosmo loved bacon. Especially when it was a little crispy, not burnt of course. He smelled some other ingredients in the meat too but he couldn't figure out if it was spices or something else.

"Are you gonna try it",Kaida smirked. "Or have a staring contest with it?"

"Do I have to?"

"Do you want to blend in with the rest of us?"

Cosmo returned his attention to the meat with a sigh, "You make a disappointing point."

Cosmo cut a small bite of the meat and realized the meat was boneless. Kaida must have taken some time in taking the bones out. Using his claw as a knife, he slitted through the meat and popped a piece into his mouth and began to chew. Cosmo's reaction turned to one of surprise.

"Wow, this is good. I wasn't expecting that!",Cosmo popped another piece in his mouth. "What else did you put in the meat?"

Kaida smiled, "Just some spices from the market and a little dragon dung for good taste."

Cosmo stopped in his tracks, "Wait, did you just say what I thought you said?"

"Yea theres some spices from the market in the meat. I got the last bit lucky me."

"No no, after that."

"Dragon dung?"

Cosmo immediately spat the meat out into the trash with disgust in his face, "You trying to kill me?"

Kaida laughed, "I was kidding!"

Cosmo wiped his mouth, "You mean?"

"Yea, I didn't put any spices in it."

"Oh god, why?"

Kaida smiled then busted out laughing again, "Kidding, theres no dragon dung you think I'm stupid?"

"Ruined my appetite, and made my day."

"Oh come on", Kaida grabbed a piece of meat and took a bite out of it, "This stuff is good. You haven't eaten in, well a day."

"Don't remind me of food",Cosmo looked at the meat again. "I'm starved."

Cosmo grabbed a piece of meat and began chewing down on it, unable to resist. Kaida kept giving him weird glances during the time but he didn't care. Then Cosmo grabbed another piece of meat, the one Kaida just finished cooking. It was a little hot but he didn't care. He was a dragon. Then suddenly he remembered what that strange figure said from last night. He stopped eating and he was dead in his thoughts.

_ If I were you, I would get used to the dragon life for a long time. You're stuck here just like I am._

What did he mean by that? Cosmo didn't want to believe the first part of it but when he said that he was stuck here just like he was, what did he mean? It left Cosmo thinking for a few minutes.

"Woohoo? Cosmo? You full? Need to go to the private place?"

Cosmo snapped out of his daydreaming and looked down back on his plate. There was still some meat left on it but he gave the plate to Kaida. "Just thinking."

Kaida opened a smaller than average size white box and placed the plate inside. Cosmo guessed it was a type of fridge considering it had ice on the sides of it. He placed a paw on the side and it was evidently made of a hard type substance. Rock maybe? He wasn't sure.

"What you thinking about?"

Cosmo sat and wrapped his tail around his legs. He always seen his pet cat do it and he wanted to know what it felt like. He actually felt a little more secure for some reason.

"Last night. Remember that shady character?"

"How couldn't I? Continue."

"Well, he told me something before he disappeared that night."

"And, what did he tell you?"

"He said that I was going to be stuck here for a long time, just like he was."

"Wait, him? Stuck here? Do you think maybe, he is a human?"

"No, I highly doubt that. You saw what he could do. He flew for crying out loud."

"So? Maybe he's been stuck here for a long time and knows some stuff."

Cosmo shook his head as he looked out the window behind him. He saw two dragons walking by. One was red, the other was pink. "Don't know, but he didn't seem like he was a dragon like us."

"Like us?",Kaida asked as she started washing some plates in the sink.

"Well you know what I mean." Cosmo looked outside with wonder. "So, what are we going to do now?"

Kaida turned the faucet off and flicked some water on Cosmo, "Have fun of course."

Cosmo wiped the sprinkles of water off, "Have fun doing what? I'm not a dragon I don't know what you dragons do for fun."

"Well",Kaida began. "We could start putting your wings to some use for starters. You still don't know how to fly."

"That is comforting to know."

"How so?",Kaida asked as she headed toward the living room.

Cosmo began to follow, "I don't know really, I've always felt uncomfortable in an airplane so I don't know about this flying thing."

"First off, why were you excited yesterday when you realized about your wings. Second, what is an airplane?"

"Its a machine that can carry people from one place to another."

"Ever heard of walking? It's better for you."

"Ever heard of swimming over one-thousand miles just to get to another place?"

"Yea I hear you. So, lets go somewhere private so I can teach you to fly."

Cosmo thought about it then answered, "I assume you know where to go then?"

"Indeed I do?"

Cosmo watched Kaida walk into the kitchen, making sure everything was turned off for she didn't want to come back to a burning home. Satisfied, she left the kitchen and headed for the door followed by Cosmo. She opened the door and the two of them walked outside then Kaida closed it back and the two headed off down the street.

Cosmo noticed the same red and pink dragon he saw from earlier behind them going the other way. He figured it was one male and one female, or he was hoping. He hoped there wasn't a male pink dragon around. It would be embarrassing for sure. Kaida looked back at them but she kept her pace.

The streets weren't very crowded yet. They passed by a few dragons, who gave the two of them a quick wave of greetings.

Kaida explained when no one was around, "Just keep your head down and ignore these shopkeepers up ahead. They can get, pushy sometimes."

"Pushy?",Cosmo repeated.

"Yea, sometimes they can be so into their business that they will actually walk up to anyone that even looks at them and bugs them about buying something until they actually do to shut them up. As long as we stay in the middle of the street and make no eye contact we'll get by them."

"Right, so where exactly are we going?"

"A meadow for now. It's open and I'm hoping no one will be there."

The two of them kept their pace. A few minutes later Cosmo spotted the shopkeepers Kaida spoke of. They seemed to just be opening up their stalls. Cosmo immediately looked down toward the ground and didn't dare to look up. The shopkeepers gave them nervous glances, one of them was even about to walk up to them but Kaida gave her an evil killer look. The shopkeeper stopped in her tracks and went back to her posts. Everyone else did the same, too frightened for their own safety to approach Kaida. Cosmo couldn't help but a mild chuckle under his breath.

When they finally were pass all the shopkeepers they looked back up ahead of them. Cosmo examined his blueish wings along the way, flapping them a couple of times wondering if he was actually ready for this.

The city seemed endless to Cosmo. Every turn they made there was another line of buildings. Cosmo had no idea what those buildings contained inside but he wasn't going into each one to figure it out. There started to be a bit more dragons on the streets now that it was almost eight a.m. The two of them even stumbled across a block filled with dragons. Cosmo didn't do crowds, especially when he was in the midst of them. He just wanted to start flying right there to get away but his wings wasn't working with him quite yet.

He didn't understand though. How hard could it be to fly? You flap your wings and you're off. Or that's what Cosmo wanted to think. He knew it was going to be a bit tougher than that.

Around another ten minutes passed. Cosmo was beginning to think the walking would never end. He even saw some other dragons flying over the rooftops above him to avoid the crowds. Cosmo couldn't wait to do that. But he never complained, aloud that is.

Then him and Kaida finally turned around the corner of a building and there was a treeline. No buildings.

"Is it past that treeline?",Cosmo pointed.

Kaida nodded, "Yea, lets go."

The two of them made way to the treeline. The street ended into grass where the treeline was, making Cosmo's paws feel a bit better. Kaida looked back one last time then the two of them walked past the treeline where Cosmo could see the meadow clearly now. It was only a few more yards away now. The two of them walked that distance then Kaida stopped in front of a goldenrod flower. She took a sniff of the tip of it and looked back up to Cosmo with a small smile.

"You like goldenrods?"

"Weird, I know. Anyways, lets start your training."

"Oh boy",Cosmo replied. "What should I do first?"

"Watch me",Kaida replied then lifted her wings and she sat for a second in that position. Cosmo watched carefully and Kaida jumped up pretty high before flapping her wings and flying over Cosmo. She glided back down in front of Cosmo.

"Now you try it."

Cosmo bent his legs with his wings stretched out with confidence inside him. He leaped up into the air, not as high as Kaida though, then flapped his wings. Cosmo hovered for a second before falling back down onto the ground with a thud. Cosmo sighed as he stood back up.

"What did I do wrong?"

"You wasn't flapping your wings at the same time. They were off by a bit. Always flap both of your wings at the same time, you don't wanna be flying in circles now do you?"

"No",Cosmo chuckled. "I guess not."

"Just keep trying you'll get it. It's not that hard."

"Like riding a bicycle right?"

"What?",Kaida asked with wonder. 

"Nothing, lets just",Cosmo bent his legs and had his wings outstretched. "Try again."

"Practice makes perfect Cosmo",Kaida clapped.

"Indeed it does."

_School 9:30 A.M._

The school was coming along nicely. A lot was done since yesterday but it was mainly because of Cynder's doings. When she decided to help she didn't know she was going to be worked to death. At least she was getting paid for it now. She was sitting on the roof just thinking of a certain someone.

"Cynder!"

Cynder sighed, "Up here Kantel!"

Kantel the gray dragon looked up onto the roof of the school. He noticed Cynder had already finished with the roof. It looked like a grand job but Kantel didn't seem impressed.

"If you're done with the roof then help inside for a change. We need some help carrying some bricks."

Cynder sat for a second. She just wanted to throw a brick at him so badly, "Alright."

Kantel walked back inside where Cynder lost sight of him. Cynder jumped off the roof and landed on the grass in front of the school. She was used to jumping down from high places so it didn't hurt her one bit. She walked inside into the hall.

The hall seemed so plain now. She remembered when it had all sorts of paintings on the walls. But those walls were gone now, replaced. Yet some of the walls wasn't even done yet.

Cynder spotted a large silver bucket with a metal handle full of bricks near the entrance. She figured that was what Kantel was referring to so she picked up the bucket by the handle and walked over to one of the unfinished walls where one dragon was already placing bricks in place.

"Hey Cynder",the male green dragon said.

"Hey Cyline. How's things?"

Cyline cocked an eye, "You look exhausted."

Cynder looked at Cyline. Cyline immediately noticed her eyes. They seemed to be straining themselves to keep her eyes open.

"I'm fine Cyline. It's no big deal."

"No big deal? You should take a break Cynder. I'll cover for you."

Cynder looked up at the dragon, "I couldn't. Kantel gives me too much work. There's no way you can cover for me."

Cyline closely at Cynder. He liked her but she was too young and it wasn't even in that way. He just liked to be her friend. Cyline rolled his blue eyes. Strange to be a green dragon but have blue eyes. It was quite rare, and his orange underbelly and yellow wings. He had a few markings on his side in his green scales but they were unnoticeable. His light orange colored horns were curved back and he was a bit bigger than Spyro. Cyline knew he was no hero but wanted to help one out.

"Screw Kantel. He's an ungrateful blind fool for not seeing how much you have done. Take a break Cynder."

"But-"

"Now",Cyline commanded. "If Kantel says anything he'll have to come to me first."

"Same here."

Cynder looked down the hall and saw a large yellow dragon walking down the hall.

"Greetings Volteer",Cyline stated.

"I say, Cynder you have done such a splendid task so far. I apologize about Kantel's behavior. I have no conclusions on why he is acting the pathetic way he is. In fact, don't take a break Cynder."

"Volteer you sure about that?",Cyline asked.

"I'm sure Cyline. Cynder here is going to take the rest of the week off and I'll ensure that you will have a full weeks pay for your labor."

Cyline looked over at Cynder with a grin, "Problem solved Cynder! If Kantel says anything about you Volteer will take care of it."

"Correct",Volteer nodded. "Now run along Cynder."

"Hold it!"

Cynder looked over down the hall to her right and saw Mantel. She sighed and sat back down.

"Cynder still has work to do",Kantel said.

"I don't think so Kantel",Cyline stood in between him and Cynder. "Cynder, go on."

Cynder looked at Volteer and he grinned and nodded. Cynder stood onto her fours and began walking down the hall. Kantel began to chase her but Volteer stepped in front of him and Cynder making Kantel stop in his tracks.

"Get out the way!",Kantel said as he began pushing against Volteer.

"Boy! You have guts! I suggest you stop before I send electricity through your body so badly that you will be accidentally crapping yourself for the next two weeks!"

Kantel stopped in his tracks and Cyline couldn't help but utter a laugh. Cynder made her escape through her door laughing for she never heard Volteer talk that way.

Cynder immediately began heading home. She couldn't wait for her head to hit a soft pillow where she could finally get some good sleep.

_Meanwhile_

Spyro watched out the window of Cynder's home. He decided to stay to take care of the egg. He looked behind him, back at the egg making sure it was still there. Of course it was but he wanted to make sure.

He looked back out of the window and saw Cynder walking down the street. Excited, he made his way outside just as Cynder was about to come inside.

"Hey Cynder",Spyro greeted. "What are you doing back so early?"

"Hey, Volteer is letting me take the rest of the week off."

"Really?",Spyro said with surprise. "That's great!"

"Yea, that means I can finally get some good sleep."

Spyro stepped aside letting Cynder inside, "Then go on, get some sleep. I'll stay here if you want me to."

"That would be great Spyro, thanks for the help."

Cynder slowly made her way into her room and lazily flopped on the bed. She looked at the chair beside her and looked at the dark egg. Soon after, she fell asleep, glad that she finally was able to get some sleep.

Spyro was still looking out the front door, just watching the dragons go by. Most of them waved at Spyro while others didn't even take notice of him. Then it suddenly hit Spyro, he almost forgot that he and Cynder was meeting Cosmo and Kaida for lunch at Lateef's restaurant. He looked at the clock on the wall behind him. It was almost ten o' clock. They still had about two hours left. So he let Cynder sleep.

_Meanwhile_

A few clouds were beginning to form in the sky, one of them was blocking the sun making a comfortable shade on the meadow. Cosmo and Kaida were in the meadow, above it actually. After an hour of learning and practicing Cosmo was getting the hang of flying. The two of them were gliding in the air, Cosmo had an obvious smile on his face.

"I thought you didn't like flying?",Kaida asked.

"This is different then how I flew in my world. I feel in control here unlike on the planes."

"Right",Kaida replied as a gentle breeze blew. "So, are you happy here?"

Cosmo looked over at his friend, "What do you mean?"

"Are you happy in the dragon world?"

Cosmo thought about it. He wasn't expecting a sudden question like that. The truth was, he didn't know if he was actually happy or not. It was a pretty strange experience and sometimes he thought he was having some weird dream. But he never woke up. He looked over at Kaida, he saw she smiling too.

Kaida decided to land back down on the meadow followed by Cosmo. That question she asked was rumbling in his mind. For the short time he had been in the dragon world, he had his good times but there was a few surprises in that time.

"I guess, I don't really know Kaida."

Kaida stayed quiet. For a time it seemed as if she was drifted off into her own thoughts. Cosmo looked around the meadow as the sun began to shine on the meadow.

Then Kaida broke the silence, "I almost forgot. Spyro asked us to go to lunch with him last night. Remember?"

"Oh yea",Cosmo realized. "What time is it?"

"I don't know",Kaida replied. "We should get going though. I don't want to be late, especially on this occasion."

Cosmo began following Kaida back out of the meadow and back through the treeline. From there, it was a confusing maze to Cosmo, filled with other dragons. Again with the crowds, but Kiada looked back with a smile to Cosmo. That smile told him something. Cosmo smiled back in realization of what she was thinking and the two of them leaped up into the air and began to fly.


	6. Conversations and Lunch

Authors note:Like holy crap! I am very sorry everyone for posting the wrong thing. I posted one of my chapters from Spyro and Ember 2 by accident and didnt even take the time to notice. Here is the real chapter, along with chapter 7 AND 8 for the trouble. Updating at 3 in the morning will does this lol.

Chapter 6

Conversations and Lunch

The city was becoming a bit more lively now that it was almost noon. Cosmo and Kaida were still in Kaida's home but were getting ready to leave.

Cosmo waited on the couch, resting and waiting for Kaida. She had walked into her room around ten minutes ago and he hadn't seen her since then. But he knew she was still there for he heard an occasional noise from her room every now and then.

Kaida was cleaning up her room a bit before they left. She walked into her room earlier and it was a little messy. She hadn't cleaned it in a while until now. She didn't want Cosmo to see a mess in her room. She looked at the rectangular wooden clock on the wall and it read eleven fifty eight. Noticing the time, she hurried herself.

A few more minutes passed and Cosmo looked toward Kaida's room to see the silver door handle turning. The door creaked open and Kaida paced out and into the living room.

"Are you ready?", Kaida asked with anticipation.

Cosmo nodded, "Of course, I'm ready. Can't wait to meet the two heroes of the city."

Kaida smiled. She was also ready but didn't show any signs of it. Truth was she was a little nervous about dining with two heroes. She wasn't much of a fan for attention but she knew she was going to get some while eating with Spyro and Cynder.

The two left the house and began a brisk walk down the street. Lateef's wasn't all that far away which was why Spyro chose it. Lateef had some good food for low prices so he was a very reasonable merchant. He could be everyone's friend if he wanted to but he just did business. He had no reason to be everyone's friend. From what Kaida heard Lateef was drug into the food business by his relatives. He cooked a few descent meals and was suddenly working in a food stall. After about a year he ended up owning the business. He wasn't happy. Sitting behind a counter all day, ordering other dragons to cook. It definitely wasn't his type. He was more of an explorer.

When he was only a few years old he sneaked out of his home to go explore the unknown. His parents were a bit stricked about him doing such a thing, even when they were actually with him and watching him. During his sudden expedition he ran into some wolves. He was quite frightened by them but something unusual happened, but no one believed him. The wolves were friendly toward him, they even protected him on his way back home. For instance, Lateef stumbled across a poisonous snake. The wolves immediately attacked it and killed the threat. Ever since then Lateef was friendly toward wolves instead of killing them like his relatives. He didn't know why his relatives would ever do such a thing toward the animals but Lateef would never do such a thing in his lifetime. But if things went south, he would have no choice but to defend himself. But to him, things never went south. At least with the wolves it never did. It always went south with his relatives though. Lateef would always get yelled at for being out in the forests but he didn't really care what they said.

He never got to know his parents either. His parents just took off, only his uncle had raised him throughout his early years. Only at the age of two was when his parents disappeared. Lateef never knew why but he hadn't seen them ever again. He occasionally had thoughts rush into his head about them but he didn't want anything to do with it. His parents abandoned him and he went through some of the stages of grief in the process.

Cosmo and Kaida decided to walk there for it wasn't really that far so they had much to think about while on the way to Lateefs. What was going to happen now, who that strange figure was and what he meant in his words. But Cosmo mainly thought about the reason he was a dragon and how Spyro and Cynder saved the city. Even though the city still had some damages he knew it could have been a lot worse.

As they headed through the city they came across a lot of dragons along the way. Cosmo was beginning to feel uncomfortable but a few dragons gave a quick wave of hello to him making him feel more at ease. Even a few female dragons winked at him, making Cosmo not know what to think.

"_Oh jeez what if it's the dragon's mating season or something! I can't go at it with a dragon! I don't know if I could go through it! I wouldn't even know what to do!_"

Cosmo looked down toward the ground then looked back at Kaida, "Hey Kaida", he said in a whispered tone.

"Yes?", she asked in an unwhispered tone.

"Is it . . . mating season here?"

Kaida was about to burst out in laughing at Cosmo's question. "Cosmo",she began but started laughing.

Cosmo's face turned a little red. That question was a little out of the line.

"No Cosmo",Kaida finally replied. "At least not yet."

"Wait a second",Cosmo stammered. "You don't expect to . . . you know. When mating season comes."

"Well that is a . . . random question Cosmo. Perhaps we should talk about this after lunch? When we aren't in a crowd full of dragons, especially since some of them are females."

"But it will be on my mind all through lunch!"

"Well Cosmo I know you're a human so I won't do such a thing. But some of these other females on the other hand. They don't know about you."

Cosmo hung his head low in disbelief, "You're kidding?"

"Listen, according to that shady dragon we met in the forest you will be here for a very long time. It could be months, it could be years, even decades for all I know. I'm just gonna give it to you straight out. If you're here for more than a year, you will probably end up . . . you know."

"But I don't wanna, do I have to?"

"Cosmo its mating season, females look for mates and they can't really help themselves. I can see you getting chased by five females in my head. It's quite funny."

"Funny? How is that funny!"

"You will warm up to the idea Cosmo."

"What are-"

"Shhhh", Kaida interrupted. "Less talk more walk."

Kaida and Cosmo continued onwards leaving the awkward conversation behind. Cosmo hoped he wouldn't have to go through such a thing. Kaida had a continued smile on her face which Cosmo noticed. He knew what she was thinking.

A few more minutes and a lot more dragons passed. Cosmo and Kaida finally arrived at Lateefs, where they looked around. It was a small square with tables with white decorated cloths on top of them. Half of the tables had umbrellas over them, the other half didn't.

Kaida scanned the tables. She spotted some other dragons eating their delicious meals but she didn't see Spyro or Cynder anywhere.

"I guess they aren't here yet",Kaida reported.

"Let's just wait then",Cosmo replied as he sat down by the nearest table. "You might as well sit down as well Kaida."

"Don't tell me what to do",Kaida growled. She walked to the chair beside Cosmo's and sat down.

"Wow, alright then. We'll just wait then."

_Meanwhile_

Cynder was making the bed while Spyro watched the egg. He forgotten about the egg when he told Cosmo and Kaida he and Cynder would meet them for lunch. They were already late as it was making matters a bit worse. Spyro also forgot to mention to Cynder that they were meeting Cosmo and Kaida for lunch making Spyro feel a bit more guilty.

Cynder finished making the bed and looked over at the egg. She wanted to hold it but she knew it was going to burn her. She put a paw on it anyways. She immediately withdrew her paw though a stomped her foot.

"Why can't I even touch it without it burning!"

Spyro walked to the egg. He didn't want to pick it up, he knew it would make Cynder feel even worse so he let it sit.

"No idea, wish I knew though. It's very confusing."

"It's probably because I'm not a purple dragon",Cynder replied. "Or some other dumb reason." Cynder walked by Spyro and stood at the doorway. "Can you at least hide it somewhere before we leave?"

"Sure thing Cynder."

Cynder paced out the door and out of sight. Spyro picked up the egg and looked around. He saw the closet and went to it, bringing a pillow along with him. He opened the closet and moved some of Cynder's supplies around to set the pillow down. He set the egg on top of the pillow and closed the closet with satisfaction. He walked out of Cynder's room, closing the door behind him while he was at it. Cynder was already at the front door, opening it letting the two of them outside. Spyro closed that door as well, being the gentledragon he was.

"We should just start flying then. We'll get there faster",Spyro suggested.

"Alright then, lead the way",Cynder responded.

Spyro and Cynder took flight, over the rooftops and by all the crowds of dragons doing business below them. A few dragons were also in the air along with them, it seemed like a busy day.

Cynder couldn't help but think of how Cyline was doing. If Kantel was giving him a hard time or not due to her absence. But that thought was quickly thrown away, after all, Volteer was there and he wouldn't let Kantel do such a thing. Cynder wanted Volteer to be her boss instead of Kantel. Kantel always pushed her because he was jealous. Jealous because Cynder was well known and every treated her like an actual being.

It amazed Cynder of what jealousy could do to dragons. She looked over at Spyro and he smiled back in return and returned his attention in front of him. Cynder was beginning to feel a bit of jealousy herself. She didn't want to believe it but it was true. Spyro could hold that egg as long as he pleased but Cynder couldn't touch it without it hurting her. She wanted to know what it would feel like to cradle an egg in her arms. She wanted to do it so badly but it wasn't going to happen at the moment. She just hoped whatever was inside the egg, wouldn't reject her because of her not being able to touch the egg.

When they finally arrived at Lateef's, they landed as close as they could to the square as possible. Although they were ten minutes late.

Cosmo noticed Spyro landing and he guessed the black dragon must have been Cynder. Cosmo nudged Kaida, who had her head layed on the table in front.

"What?",she asked.

"They're here",he simply replied.

Kaida's head was immediately off the table and looking behind her. She saw what she had been waiting to see. Cosmo waved as Spyro and Cynder made their way toward them.

"Hey!",Spyro greeted as he stopped in front of the two sitting dragons. "Apologies that we're late. I have no excuse."

"It's not a problem Spyro", then Cosmo turned to Cynder. "You must be Cynder."

Cynder grinned, "And you must be Cosmo, the one who chased that thing that was trying to break into my home."

"He sure is",Kaida answered for Cosmo.

"And you must be Kaida, Cosmo's friend. Correct?",Cynder asked.

"Yep, that's me. It's great to finally and actually meet you two",Kaida smiled.

"Well",Spyro interrupted. "What are we waiting for? Go on, go order something. Tell them that I'm paying for it."

"As much as I hate to", Cosmo said. "Alright."

"Come on, you two deserve it for helping out. It's the least I could do."

"What about you? Need me to get something for you two?",Kaida asked.

"That won't be necessary, Lateef is already making what we want",Spyro replied.

"Did you call ahead?",Cosmo joked.

"Err . . . call ahead? Sorry I don't quite catch on",Cynder responded.

Spyro went ahead with the answer, "Well Lateef knows when me and Cynder are hungry and he knows the exact dish we like. We come here all the time so he knows our usual."

"When he sees us in his square around lunchtime, he knows",Cynder finished.

"Ah, I understand now, well I'll see you two in a bit",Cosmo said as he got in the three dragon line at the front desk. He kept trying to look ahead at the menu seeing if the dragons served anything enticing.

"I better go make sure he doesn't order something bad for him",Kaida said and walked to Cosmo.

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other. "An unusual pairing I would say",Spyro said.

"Pairing? Thought you said they were friends?",Cynder replied as she sat down on one of the chairs at the table.

"That's how it always starts. Remember you and us?"

Cynder couldn't help but show a grin, "Yea, I remember it well. As it were yesterday."

"Good memories last while the bad ones attempt to spoil them. I know what you've been thinking about lately Cynder. Don't let it go through your head, make the best of it or otherwise a flood of bad memories will be the only ones remaining."

Cynder thought for a second then answered, "I'm am making the best of it Spyro. But memories the evil memories of what I tried to do to you keep coming back."

"That is the thing Cynder. You keep reminding yourself of those memories. It's not your fault, and besides. You tried, not succeeded."

"But what if I would have succeeded?"

Spyro was silent for a moment then said, "It doesn't matter now. What matters now is that we're together and nothing can separate us."

Cynder stayed silent as Spyro sat down beside her. He looked back toward the front counter to see Cosmo pointing to the menu posted on the front counter then he scratched his head. Kaida giggled for a moment then pointed at something else on the menu. Spyro watched Cosmo, studying him. It seemed he was having a hard time deciding what he wanted. Like he didn't know what some of the stuff on the menu was.

Spyro looked back at Cynder. She was looking out into the street, just watching all the dragons pass by. Of course, she got a few hello's by a few passerbys and so did Spyro.

A few minutes later, Cosmo and Kaida strolled back to the table and both of them sat down in unison.

"What did you two get?",Spyro asked in wonder but was looking at Cosmo.

"I got the lambchop with a side of sliced ham",Kaida replied. "Cosmo got the five sliced steak combo with a side of bacon."

"Five sliced steak? No one can eat all that",Spyro replied. "Except for me. I got the same thing except it comes with an apple instead.

"An apple?",Cosmo questioned.

"Yea, apples are good for your body, didn't you know?"

Cosmo rolled his eyes making Spyro chuckle. "Cynder usually gets some fried chicken with a small salad next to it to even it out."

"Smart move",Kaida responded. But Cynder remained silent, too deep in thought to hear them.

Spyro knew what she was thinking but let her be. A few more minutes passed and Lateef came large silver dish under his paw and was walking on two legs. He set the silver dish down on one table and gave out the meals to the awaiting dragons. Spyro smiled as his dish was set in front of him.

"You're getting better at that two legged walking Lateef",Spyro said as he took a bite of the first steak on top. It was a little hot but he was used to it.

Lateef set a plate in front of Cynder with her meal on it, "Thanks Spyro. Doing well I assume?"

Spyro swallowed, "Been better but could be worse too I suppose."

Lateef set down a plate in front of Cosmo and one in front of Kaida, "How is that? It would seem you made two friends since yesterday. Friendship beats a bag of gems."

"I know",Spyro replied. "Your food always brightens my day too." Spyro took another bite.

"It's delicious",Kaida complemented as she took a bite into her lambchop.

Cosmo already had his mouth full but was giving a nod of approval.

"I know",Lateef replied. "But I always thought I was meant to do something else other than cooking for a living."

Spyro swallowed, "I'm sure you do Lateef. You just have to find it."

Lateef grinned at the complement, "Alright I have to get back to the customers. It's was great talking to you two again." Lateef looked over at Cynder. She was still motionless looking out onto the streets. "And when I mean you two I mean you and Kaida. Good meeting you Cosmo. Hopefully you won't change your mind about your order twenty times next time eh?"

Cosmo smirked, "Funny Lateef."

Lateef returned to his duties as the four dragons enjoyed their meals. A few dragons looked over at Spyro and looked at the newcomers. Cosmo and Kaida. Kaida knew she was going to get attention by being with the heroes. It made her feel a little uncomfortable for a moment but after a while, she didn't mind.

She continued her meal regardless of the other dragons eyes. For once, she was the one dragons were looking at. She quickly forgot about them and continued her meal with the two heroes of the city. The city of Warfang.

_Later_

Cosmo and Kaida made the walk back home, slowly but surely. They had no reason to rush themselves. However Spyro and Cynder went back home for the egg.

Spyro and Cynder made their flight back home with their stomachs full. During the flight a strong gust blew against them hindering their progress. But they kept on going. In the distance, some dark clouds were beginning to take form. They looked a bit nasty from Spyro's point of view. He figured a storm was coming and it would probably hit Warfang by tonight. One of the clouds looked like it was swirling for a second. Spyro rubbed his eyes and looked again.

"Looks like a storm ahead",Spyro informed.

Cyndeer squinted, "Yea I see it too. Doesn't look like fun over there."

Spyro and Cynder flew around a taller building. It was a clock tower, but it was still damaged in some parts of the building here and there. But the large squared clock was still ticking. It read 12:43 P.M.

When Spyro and Cynder finally landed in front of Cynder's house minutes later, Cynder quickly made way for the door. Spyro opened it for her and the two of them walked in. Cynder made way for her room to check on the egg and Spyro sat down and relaxed on the couch with a sigh.

Cynder opened the closet then grew wide-eyed, "Spyro!"

Spyro shot up and ran into the bedroom as quick as lightening wondering what was wrong.


	7. Wait It Gets Worse

Chapter 7

Wait . . . It Gets Worse

Cosmo and Kaida arrived at home a little before one o' clock. Kaida decided to take the scenic route to show Cosmo some other places. The city was making progress in the repairs very well and fast. For instance, the clock tower. Yesterday it looked like it was about to tip over. Now it looked as strong as ever.

A lot of dragons were planning a festival after all the repairs were complete as a celebration. Cosmo knew for he saw many signs up on the walls, posts, stalls, and one dragon was handing out fliers to anyone who seemed interested. Kaida picked one up from that dragon. Cosmo read it.

A FESTIVAL IS COMING AND YOU'RE INVITED!

GRAB YOUR FRIENDS AND BE IN THE CITY SQUARE ONCE REPAIRS ARE FINISHED

TIME IS CURRENTLY UNKNOWN BUT WE WILL INFORM YOU AS SOON AS WE CAN

LOOK FOR THE POSTERS AND KEEP YOUR HEADS HELD HIGH!

WE ALSO ARE LOOKING FOR HELP

ANYONE WHO IS WILLING TO HELP WITH THE FESTIVAL ARE ASKED TO TALK WITH SHIVERTAIL

MAY THE CITY PROSPER EVEN BETTER THAN EVER!

Every flyer was individually made for dragons didn't have copy machines of course. A group of dragons made them all with only a strange smelling ink and quills.

Cosmo tried to imagine what a festival in the dragon world would be like. He figured it wasn't gonna be balloons and rollercoasters so it kept him pondering on it for a little while.

Kaida and Cosmo walked inside and the both of them sat on the couch in unison with a sigh. Kaida set the flyer aside and sat back and relaxed.

Cosmo closed his eyes in thought. After a few minutes Kaida stood up and walked into the kitchen and looked through the window over the sink. It seemed as if there wasn't as many dragons now than there was earlier on the streets. In fact, the street seemed almost deserted. It wasn't really unusual on this street for there really wasn't nothing worth seeing. Unless you like a long line of homes then that was different.

Later on in the day Cosmo woke up to the sound of thunder. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the clock.

"_Must have dozed off. It's almost four._"

Cosmo looked around the room. It was actually kind of dark but his night vision was beginning to take effect. The dark, heavy looking clouds up in the air was blocking the sun making it darker than usual in the city. Cosmo stood up off the couch and went outside to take a look.

Closing the door behind him he looked up into the air.

"_Dang, looks like the bottom is about to fall out. Those clouds came in faster than I thought._"

He quickly walked back inside after another rumble of thunder and looked around the room. Kaida wasn't there. He walked into the kitchen.

Not there either.

He decided to walk up to her bedroom door. It was closed so he knocked first.

"Kaida! You in there?"

When he heard no answer he slowly creaked the door open.

She wasn't there either.

Worried, he walked by the bed and peered at the last room. The bathroom. The door was closed so he knocked three consecutive times.

"Kaida?"

He placed his head on the door and heard nothing. He slowly opened the door and looked inside.

Nothing.

Kaida was gone. To where, Cosmo did not know. Cosmo began to grow a little worried. Had she been missing the whole time Cosmo was sleeping?

Cosmo quickly made his way to the front door and walked outside and looked around again. He walked around the side of the house and looked in the small backyard. She wasn't there either.

"Kaida!",he called out. Cosmo walked back to the front yard and saw a red and pink dragon passing by. He wondered if it was the same red and pink dragon he saw earlier in the day but he approached them anyways.

"Excuse me",Cosmo said. "Have you seen a silver female dragon lately? She lives here."

The red dragon thought about it then answered. "You mean that silver dragon you were with earlier today or am I mistaking you for someone else."

"No that's me. Her name is Kaida and I don't know where she is. I woke up to find her missing earlier."

"That doesn't sound to good",the pink dragon said. "Sorry but I haven't seen lately. But we usually take walks through this area and if we see her, we'll tell her that you're looking for her."

Cosmo nodded, "Alright thanks for the help. I'm just a little worried because of that storm that is coming."

The red dragon observed the sky then faced Cosmo, "Yea I noticed it too. We're gonna have to get going ourselves before it starts to storm."

Then Cosmo felt something hit his snout. It was small and . . . wet.

"Rain",Cosmo said as he took a claw and dried where the raindrop hit. "Too late, it's already started."

"Aye",the red dragon said and pointed toward the west. "Look."

Cosmo looked and to his amazement, he spotted a wall of rain slowly approaching them. In a few minutes the three of them was going to be completely soaked and standing in the middle of a storm.

"I have to find her",Cosmo replied.

"I'll be happy to help you out as well", the red dragon responded then looked over at the pink dragon. "You better head home. I don't want you getting sick."

The pink dragon looked as if she was about to object but said, "You be careful."

"Always",he said as he watched her take off into the air just as the wind was beginning to pick up. It through her flying off a bit but she continued on her path.

The red dragon looked at Cosmo, "We'll split up and we'll meet back here in fifteen minutes."

Cosmo nodded, "Good luck."

"You too my friend", the red dragon took off into the air and headed to the right. Cosmo followed his example of flying but went left instead.

The more he looked the more the wind picked up. It was throwing his flying off. He was just learning to fly and now he has to fly with terrible wind conditions. How much worse could it get.

He looked down into the streets but he couldn't ever find her. He was really worried. What if she was already back home? What if she was in trouble? A hundred thoughts flowed through his head but he threw them aside. Those 'what if' thoughts were getting in the way. Cosmo just hoped that other dragon was having more luck than he was. He didn't even know the dragons name but the red dragon was helping him. Was it always like this in the dragon world? Was everyone this nice, unlike the human world?

It saddened Cosmo though. How dragons were more friendly than humans. In Cosmo's world there was always something bad on the news. Car wrecks, vandalisms, murders, rapes, robbery, death, the list would just go on and on. But here was different. Everyone treated him with kindness you could rarely get in the other world. Maybe living in the dragons world wasn't so bad after all. In fact he could get used to it.

Cosmo's thoughts quickly vanished to the sudden heart stopping sound of thunder. It was louder than ever now and it frightened him a little. The thought of getting struck by lightening went through Cosmo's head. He shook it out and continued his search.

Ten minutes passed and still nothing, so he started flying back toward home with hope that the red dragon found Kaida. It pained him to turn around but he had to keep his word.

The wind suddenly blew Cosmo so hard he fell into a freefall for a few seconds before managing to take control over his body. The wind was almost blowing directly against him and the rain was beginning to fall in drizzles. A few moments later the rain started to come down, giving a chill to Cosmo as each drop hit him until he was completely soaked.

Eight more minutes passes and he was only halfway there. He was late as it was but the wind was something else. It was giving him the hardest time of getting back home and it was making him tired to the extent that he had to land.

Cosmo was getting really tired. The wind killed him and the rain wasn't exactly a refreshing shower either. The streets were deserted. A few of those flyers, like the one Kaida had, were blowing in the wind. Most of them were stuck to the ground due to being wet. Cosmo ran down the streets as fast as he could, hoping he was going in the right direction.

Another six minutes passed and he turned a corner and he finally spotted home. But there was a problem, the red dragon wasn't there. Cosmo ran inside the house and yelled, "Kaida!"

There was no answer. She had evidently not returned. Cosmo quickly turned around and ran back outside. Cosmo looked around not knowing what to do. Go look for Kaida some more or wait for that dragon to return.

A few minutes passes as Cosmo paced in the rain. Cosmo's thoughts were quickly destroyed as a bolt of lightening struck around a kilometer away followed by the loudest sound of thunder Cosmo had ever heard. It made made Cosmo put his paws over his head in fear. He didn't like loud sounds too awful much. He could deal with fireworks but anything louder than that made him put his paws over his head.

Then Cosmo heard a faint noise over the pounding of the rain and thunder. He looked around and spotted the red dragon he had been waiting for.

Cosmo barely heard, "Hurry! Follow me Kaida is in trouble!"

Cosmo quickly leaped up and flapped his wings. Even though he was tired he kept on going. They went west, against the wind. Cosmo could barely see due to the wind blowing in his eyes and the rain splashing in his face but he was barely able to see red, of which he followed closely.

A few minutes, which seemed like more than a few minutes, later the two of them landed in front of a crumbled building. Cosmo looked at it then back at the red dragon with fear.

"Kaida is in there?",Cosmo shouted.

The red dragon nodded, "Yea, she is trapped! Before this wind started picking up I could hear her yelling in there along with some other trapped dragons!"

Cosmo ran in front of the rubble and attempted to move some of it out of the way. But it was no use, he was either too tired, or the rubble was just too heavy.

"I . . . I can't",Cosmo stuttered.

"You can! Don't you ever say that word again! That word can ruin your life if you keep it in your heart!"

Cosmo closed his eyes for a moment then looked at the red dragon, "What do you suppose we should do then?"

"It's risky, but I think we should burn the rubble down."

"Burn it? How?"

"We're dragons! Don't worry! The rain will douse the flames before they can even start to spread! We'll burn the rubble down until we can get inside!"

"_But, I don't know how to breath fire_",Cosmo thought.

Meanwhile the red dragon began to work. The fierce flames he breathed were intense. So intense it made Cosmo take a couple of steps back.

While the red dragon wasn't looking Cosmo attempted to breathe fire on his own. He replicated exactly what the red dragon was doing but he had no luck. He didn't know how.

"What's wrong!",the red dragon yelled.

Cosmo stammered, "I don't know how to breathe fire!"

The red dragon studied him for a second, "Oh I see you must be an electric dragon! Well just sit back and wait then!"

Cosmo watched the dragon work his magic. The flames he was breathing were slowly melting the rubble down and just as he had planned it, the rain was dousing the fire to prevent it from burning the whole structure. However at one moment Cosmo thought the fire was beginning to spread. But the rain took care of it quickly.

The rubble was halfway melted and it looked as if a small gap was in the rubble. Cosmo thought he could fit in it but he wasn't too sure about it so he waited a little more.

Then suddenly the structure rumbled. Cosmo studied it frantically trying to find out what it was. Then he noticed something bad. It had gotten worse. The strong winds was about to make the future entrance collapse all over again.

"No!",Cosmo shouted as he dove for the small gap he seen earlier. The red dragon immediately stopped his work.

"Wait! It's too dangerous no!"

At that time the gap had collapsed leaving the red dragon outside in the rain with only hope. He continued his work as Cosmo was in the interior of the small, two story, building.

Cosmo stood back up after almost being crushed. He panted as he looked around the room. No dragons were in sight. The building was apparently still under construction when the storm hit and was unstable. The storm must have collapsed it. Rubble was nearly everywhere. Tables were snapped, chairs were turned over, paintings either off the walls or damaged due to the water coming inside. Cosmo figured he was in an old inn. There was a counter ahead with some small cubbyholes behind it. It still had some keys hanging onto the hooks while some others were missing. Every window was blocked with rubble and the stairs were also blocked with fallen rubble.

"Kaida!",Cosmo yelled.

A sudden clash of thunder screamed across the skies. Cosmo headed for the counter and looked around.

"Kaida!",he yelled again.

Cosmo spotted a doorway beside the counter and headed for it. He put a paw on the handle and jerked the door wide open. Then his heart fell at what he saw.


	8. The Dreaded Note

Authors Note: Please go back to chapter 6! It's important! Do not read this chapter until you read 6 and 7.

Chapter 8

The Dreaded Note

Spyro rushed into Cynder's room wondering what was wrong. He stopped in front of Cynder and she was pointing toward the closet. Spyro slowly made his way over to the closet and peeked inside. The egg was still there, but there was something else along with it. It was a note. Spyro knelt down and retrieved the note and looked at it and read.

**Take good care of him. He was always meant to be in your hands and so it has passed. However this is no ordinary creature that will soon to come. Yes, he's a dragon, just like you Spyro. But this dragon is special. He is the only hope that your world is in need for. It isn't recognized yet but it will be. This dragon will not be alone, there are other roles at play here but it is best if they remain the mystery that they are. **

** As you may have noticed, I will explain why Cynder cannot lay her grasp on the egg. Please do not be offended. Cynder, as you already know, used to be evil and evil may never touch this egg. We put this magic on the egg to help protect the dragon inside. **

** Now that the egg is your hands, we feel at ease. Remember, the dragon is special so protect him as if it were your last. **

** The Guardians of the Heavens**

Spyro folded the note into a square and looked at Cynder. He threw the note aside and sat beside her on the bed.

Spyro softly asked, "Did you read it?"

Cynder slowly nodded, "Yes, I understand why now."

"It's not your fault Cynder. It's Malefor's and we made sure that he payed for what he had done to you. You saw what happened to him. It's because of you that he met his fate then."

Cynder stayed silent. She looked over at Spyro and made a slight grin, "Thanks for trying."

"It's what I'm here for."

Spyro faced the doorway with thoughts going through who his head. Then suddenly Cynder wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. It was so sudden and Spyro was so surprised but reacted quickly and placed his arms around her in return. Both of the dragons fell backwards onto the bed as they kissed, thoughts going through their heads.

Satisfied, they let go and looked at each other with smiles.

"You know who just popped in my head?",Cynder asked.

"Who?"

"Sparx, where is he?"

Spyro thought back then and answered, "You know, by now I wouldn't know. He told me earlier in the week that he was going back to the swamp and was visiting his parents. I figured he was going to be back by now. He must be having too much fun."

"Ah, I was wondering why our kiss wasn't interrupted",Cynder joked.

"Good one, well I'm hoping he's not coming back as of right now. It looks like a real nasty storm is on the way",Spyro stood up and walked to the egg. He slowly lifted it off the pillow and placed it back on the chair where it used to be. On top of the spanish moss.

_Later 4:25 P.M._

The weather had really pickened up lately. It was fine one moment, then the next, the wind was blowing and the rain was pouring and the lightening was traveling through the clouds. Spyro felt bad for anyone stranded outside but was thankful that he and Cynder decided to stay inside.

Spyro was going to go back to his house for a little while, but the storm prevented it. He was forced to stay with Cynder, but he enjoyed the time with her anyways.

At one moment, Cynder could have sworn she saw the egg move at the corner of her eye. She shrugged at it then continued reading in her book.

The book was about a toddler dragon whose parents were murdered and his home was burned down to the ground. The toddler was found by another dragon named Equaxor, and was raised. The toddler grew up into a fine dragon, but he wanted revenge for his changed life. Equaxor knew revenge wasn't the answer, but it certainly let off some steam. So Equaxor decided to train the dragon into a warrior.

That was as far Cynder had gotten in her book labeled _Equaxor's Son. _It was a pretty good read so far, especially since she had read over a hundred pages in just an hour.

Spyro lit the fireplace with a quick breath of fire and sat on the couch and relaxed with his feet propped up on the other end of the couch. He thought of what Sparx was going through right now, what he was doing, but mostly on the Guardians of the Heavens. He never heard of such beings before, but it wasn't stopping him from thinking they existed. He would have to ask someone smart about it tomorrow. Someone like the Chronicler.

The thunder roared through the skies making Spyro's rest almost impossible. He couldn't get some sleep, either because of the storm or because he wasn't even tired.

Fifteen to twenty minutes passed. Spyro couldn't get the nap he wanted so he got to his feet and walked toward the nearest window beside the door. He stared outside with astonishment. It was horrible outside. The roads was covered with water and the rain was coming down so hard that it looked like it would hurt if it pelted you. Making things even worse, hail was beginning to fall roughly the size of small strawberries.

Spyro was glad he was inside. He decided, while he was up, he would go check up on what Cynder was doing. He made his way toward her room and had to open the door a little to walk in.

She was still reading her book, but now with a smile when she saw Spyro.

"Still reading eh?",Spyro said as he walked over beside the bed and tried to peek at her book.

"Trying to at least",Cynder replied. "That storm is worrying me."

"I just checked earlier, its starting to hail."

Cynder sighed, "It's like it doesn't know where to stop."

Spyro was about to reply but the sound of loud thunder cut him off. When he got the chance he said, "What page are you on?"

"One hundred and eighty seven",Cynder replied and flipped a page. "Eighty eight now."

"I'll be sure to get you a stack of books sometime",Spyro chuckled.

"That would be just great",Cynder smiled.

Spyro looked at the cover of the book. From what he could tell, it had a picture of a large, gray dragon on the front holding a staff. A green toddler dragon was standing beside him with a serious look on his face as if he was ready to fight against an army of foes.

Spyro turned around and began his way back into the living room until he heard a crunch. He stepped on something. He looked down and it was that note Cynder had found earlier from the so called Guardians of the Heavens.

He picked it up and took it into the living room. Cynder watched but returned to her book until Spyro was no longer sighted.

Spyro sat on the couch and with the dim light of the fireplace he read the note again, but more slowly this time. Then he noticed something. Something he had missed at the bottom of the page. He read it and grew wide-eyed.

"Oh no",Spyro replied to himself. "This can't be good."

"What can't be good?"

Spyro turned and saw Cynder standing at her doorway.

"There was something on this note I missed. Something bad."

Cynder made her way over toward Spyro, "What is it?" Cynder grabbed the note and began reading. A moment later she gave it back. "You're . . . right. That isn't good. I can't help but wonder who it's going to be."

The part of the note that she was referring to read,

** As this dragon comes, unfortunately so does death. For the dragon to hatch, a sacrifice must be made. It is our way and it will always be our way. We are sorry for this but before this day ends, someone will surely die to continue the prophesy.**

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo was beginning to panic. He found all the dragons in an average size storage room, but it had partly collapsed on the left corner. The rubble had crushed anyone who happened to be under it, and that dragon, was Kaida.

Cosmo ran as fast as he could the short distance and thrown himself in front of Kaida. She wasn't looking so good at the moment. A large support beam had fallen on her mid-section and she was trapped and in great pain.

Kaida gave it her all to make a weak smile as she saw Cosmo.

Cosmo didn't pay any attention to the other three dragons in the room. One was blue, another was gray, and the last one was a golden color.

"Kaida! Hang in there I'm getting you out of here!"

Kaida coughed up a little blood and said weakly, "I got you, a room to stay in." Then she laughed very horribly, "Unfortunately I don't think you can move in for a while now."

"Don't talk",he replied then looked at the other three dragons. "Come help me move this beam off of her!"

The dragons obeyed and made their way to the beam. When Cosmo counted to three, the four of them began to lift the beam. But it barely moved an inch. Cosmo tried it again along with the dragons. The beam was stuck in place by all the other rubble in its way.

"Listen",Kaida began the best she could. "If I don't get out of here-"

"Don't you talk like that!",Cosmo snapped. "There has to be a way!"

"I want you to have something",Kaida managed. "It's in my room, in the dresser. It's my most beloved possession and I've had since since I was a hatchling."

"That won't be necessary Kaida, I'm getting you out of here!"

_Meanwhile_

Spyro looked out of the window toward the west. It was looking horrible over there. He was still thinking about what that note said. About death. He wondered if this storm had anything to do with it.

Cynder disappeared into her bathroom while Spyro kept on lookout. A few minutes passed then Cynder emerged from her bedroom.

"How are things looking?"

"They look grim. Look toward the west, theres a dark cloud over there even darker than the rest of them."

Cynder squinted, "The cloud looks like its a little purple colored. And it looks like it's . . . starting to swirl."

Spyro looked again, he didn't believe her at first but she was right. The clouds were starting to swirl.

"Cynder."

"Yea?"

"Do you have any idea what that means?"

"You mean?",Cynder stopped in her words.

Spyro looked back out the window, "It means, a tornado is coming."

_Meanwhile_

"No! I won't accept it! I'm not leaving her behind!",Cosmo yelled as he struggled to free himself from the red dragons grasp.

"We have to move! There is a tornado coming! I saw the clouds beginning to swirl! You will be killed!"

Cosmo broke free of the red dragon's grasp and ran back to Kaida. She wasn't moving at all but Cosmo wasn't accepting it. "Then her fate will be the same as mine."

The red dragon didn't know what to say. Cosmo was going through the first stage of grief, disbelief.

"Kaida wouldn't want this. She would want you to move on and you know that. I'm sorry, but you know the decision you must make." The red dragon went silent for a moment then said. "I've got to get these other dragons out of here, don't do anything stupid. I would say you have about seven minutes until that tornado forms right on top of you."

Cosmo looked at Kaida, ever so silent and speechless at what had happened. Kaida was only trying to help him. Cosmo covered his face with his paws, and wept over his loss.

"_I don't know what to do without her. Why is this happening to me?_"

Multiple tears ran down his face. He didn't care about the tornado now, without Kaida, there was no reason to run. His only friend, now gone.


	9. Supernatural

Sorry but this will be the last time I can update this week. Expect a new update from 1 to 3 weeks but I'll have even more chapters done by then so I can post them when I get the chance. Enjoy

Chapter 9

Supernatural

"Move it!"

The three dragons did what they barely heard over the high powered winds and the pelting rain and hail. The hail was especially beginning to hurt them but they ran out of fear.

"What about that yellow dragon!?",the blue dragon yelled.

The leader stayed silent. He looked back but he could barely see the building now. No sight of Cosmo. The clouds above the building were getting worse. They were beginning to swirl even faster and the wind was picking up even faster. The winds were strong to the point where the four dragons had to use the buildings for cover whenever they got the chance.

The red dragon suddenly stopped in his tracks then looked at the blue dragon.

"Blue! Get these dragons to safety, I've have to go help him!"

"Are you insane?!",the dragon exclaimed. "You'll be killed along with him!"

"Just go! I can take care of myself!"

The dragon obeyed and the three dragons ran down the street, against the strong wind as fast as they could until the rain engulfed them. The red dragon turned around and spread his wings, using the wind to carry him back to the building.

He was picking up speed in the air. The wind was really helping him for once. Looking back up at the sky the clouds looked like they were descending in a swirl. That wasn't good. The tornado was about to touchdown.

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo was dried of tears. In his whole life, he never lost anyone like this before. He was the one that always thought something like losing a friend would never happen to him. Now it did, and he knew what it felt like.

The thunder roared as loud as ever. Cosmo looked up through the cracks in the ceiling and saw the skies. The dark, purple tinted clouds were swirling and beginning to come down.

"What are you waiting for!",Cosmo yelled out of anger. "Come and get me!"

Cosmo stomped around the room, throwing anything he could at the wall. He threw books and some other random supplies, throwing them so hard it left dents in the wall. When he ran out of things to throw he began punching the wall, over and over. Even when he broke one of the bones in his paw in the process he still went at it.

Cosmo roared as he through the last few punches, which went completely through the drywall. Then Cosmo fell backwards and there he sat.

He looked over at Kaida and ran over to her and placed his paws on the beam. He tried lifting it again, but it was no use. It was still wedged making it impossible. But he kept lifting regardless. Only the thoughts of her still being alive kept him fueled. The brink of fatigue was beginning to stir inside him. He was beginning to lose hope and accept her fate as well as his own.

Then something began roaming through his mind. A voice. The voice sounded familiar to him as it said, "_Your determination has been proven please allow me to reveal one of your hidden strengths_."

Then Cosmo suddenly began feeling stronger. His fatigue had vanished and his mind was cleared of the suicide thoughts. He tried the beam one last time.

He put both paws under the beam with the best grip he could have had, and pulled. The beam was still, then it moved an inch back. Cosmo pulled even harder and heard something crack. Cosmo was lifting the giant beam off of Kaida. That crack must have been whatever was wedging the beam. Cosmo lifted the beam over his head with a roar of success and threw it aside as if it were childs play.

The beam collided against the ground but stopped on the wall with a loud crash. Kaida was freed and Cosmo immediately began shaking her on the shoulder.

_"Super strength?"_as he knelt by Kaida.

"Kaida! Wake up!"

Kaida didn't say anything but she moved.

"Kaida!",Cosmo yelled.

Kaida creaked open her eyes to a blurred vision. She was half blind but she weakly replied, "Cosmo?"

Cosmo looked at her stomach area and noticed she was wounded and bleeding. He looked over at the beam he had thrown, and to his dismay, there was a small spike running through it. He supposed it was to help keep the beam in place but it was more of a weapon in this case.

Cosmo examined her wound, the spike stabbed her in her side and she was bleeding out. Cosmo looked back at Kaida's eyes to see them beginning to close. Cosmo wasn't having it, so he slapped her across the face.

"Don't you do that! Stay with me you hear?!", Cosmo yelled.

Kaida looked dazed but it kept her eyes opened.

"Can you stand at all?",Cosmo asked grabbing her paw and helping her up. She stumbled trying to stand up.

"I think, I broke something",Kaida coughed. "Just go."

"No! I'm not leaving you behind!"

Kaida attempted to smile but pain rushed through her.

Cosmo was always true to his word and it wasn't going to change here. Cosmo didn't know if he could walk on two legs as a dragon, but it wasn't going to stop him from trying. He slowly picked Kaida up off the ground and began his dizzy looking walk to the front. There was a gap at the front door, courtesy of that red dragon. It was just big enough for Cosmo to fit through although he had to keep his head low.

When he was outside, the rain was beginning to subside. It would usually be a good thing, but in this case, it was a very bad thing. Cosmo looked up and the tornado was forming rapidly, straight on top of him.

Then he noticed someone in the distance but Cosmo kept his pace on getting away from the building. He was moving as fast as he could down the streets but whoever he saw earlier, was still standing there in the street. The closer he got the more features the character showed. It was a dragon alright, but he wasn't who Cosmo thought it was. This dragon was white and he was nearly four times the size of Cosmo. There was markings on the dragons body but Cosmo couldn't tell the details. The dragon turned to face Cosmo, and the dragon had the whitest eyes Cosmo had ever seen. The dragon spread his wings, and vanished out of thin air.

Confused, Cosmo kept on going. He didn't know who it was but this was definitely not the time to be thinking about it.

"Hey!"

Cosmo looked ahead and to his amazement, it was that same red dragon that helped him. The dragon landed in front of Cosmo and asked, "How did you?"

Cosmo interrupted, "We'll talk later! If you hadn't noticed that tornado is about to hit! Move!"

No questions asked they started moving. A few moments later the wind was picking up again but this time the wind was against them. Cosmo turned around, and the tornado had hit and was destroying the building he was in moments ago.

Cosmo began to stumble in the wind but managed to hold on to Kaida and his balance. The other dragon asked if he could help but Cosmo shook his head.

The tornado was tearing up the buildings as if it were just mere paper. The buildings everyone was working so hard on, were now destroyed. But the tornado was getting closer and the wind was getting rough.

"We'll never make it we have to find shelter!",the red dragon exclaimed with a paw protecting his face.

Cosmo looked around but most of the building were still under construction. Not a great place to stay at. They kept on going, regardless of the dangers.

The tornado was traveling even closer toward the dragons as they made their way down the street. There was so much dust in the wind making visibility short.

Then Cosmo heard in the distance, "Hey! Over here! Hurry!"

Cosmo followed the voice and the dragon who made it came into view. He saw this dragon before. He was large and he was the one Kaida delivered that package to. It was Shivertail. They slowly made their way to him as he opened the door to a building that seemed to still be damaged. But now a damaged building seemed to be safer than the streets.

Shivertail slammed the door shut. To Cosmo's surprise the inside of the building was a mess. Paint cans were strode out, all sorts of paper on the floor, buckets and other construction materials.

"Come with me",Shivertail signaled and he led the dragons across the building and to a door on the other side.

Shivertail opened the door and revealed stairs that led down. A basement. It was perfect. Cosmo carefully stepped down the stairs with Kaida still in his arms. At the bottom were several other dragons and a few lit yellow lanterns. The basement seemed dusty and had that murky scent but Cosmo could care less. The ground was just dirt. It hadn't been tiled yet which Cosmo was glad for. He set Kaida down and sat down beside her with the other dragons wondering what had happened. Shivertail examined her closely and he looked at Cosmo.

"What happened to her?", Shivertail asked. Kaida's eyes were opening and closing frequently to show that she was awake, but tired and hurt.

"She was inside a building when it collapsed. She was buying me a new room for me when the building finished construction but when the storm hit, a beam fell on top of her and a spike stabbed her in her side."

Shivertail examined the wound closely. It wasn't bleeding as bad as it was but it was still serious. "Someone see if there is a towel or something like it laying about."

Cosmo thought then asked, "Shivertail, is there any way you can stitch her wound?"

"Stitch her wound?",Shivertail looked at Kaida then back at Cosmo. "Maybe. There's a medkit upstairs which has the supplies I need. You better hurry."

Cosmo immediately took off up the stairs and he bolted through the doorway. The wind was so strong now, it made him wonder how the building was still standing. Luckily Cosmo's dragon body weighed a little load so he stood in place.

He squinted around the building, looking for the medkit Shivertail mentioned. Then the thoughts of that voice came through his head. How he was able to lift that giant beam off of Kaida was out of the ordinary, while injured.

Cosmo looked at the paw he thought he broken earlier. It was hurting him a little bit but the adrenaline kept him from noticing it. And he noticed Kaida wasn't as heavy as he thought she was.

_"Thoughts for later now where's that medkit?"_

Cosmo quickly searched and found a small brown wooden box hanging on the wall. On it was carved the words _seeking medical assistance? Medkit._ Cosmo grabbed it and pulled it off the wall and ran back to the stairs the best he could.

Cosmo looked back one last time to see the tornado engulfing the building just across the street and it was heading straight over to him. Cosmo slammed the door shut and ran into the darkness of the basement as the tornado passed straight through the unfinished building.

_Later_

Cosmo layed beside Kaida in thought. Most of everyone was asleep and it seemed as the storm was beginning to pass but Shivertail wanted them to stay in the basement for a little while longer to make sure.

Kaida's wound was pretty well stitched up but she lost a lot of blood in the process. Cosmo was mostly worried about her, she made an occasional moan as she slept on a small slick sheet. It wasn't plushy, but it would keep the dirt out of her wound.

Cosmo's paw was wrapped up in a strong, stretchy type fabric. His paw was indeed broke for punching the wall, something he now regretted.

Thoughts of that dragon he saw, that white dragon with the white eyes. When he saw him Cosmo was feeling a little uneasy but now, he didn't know whether he was against him or with him or just there. Then the idea came to Cosmo, Shivertail may know who the dragon was. So he walked over to him while he was sitting in watch. Or more in thought. Shivertail sat near the stairs with his eyes shut like he was falling asleep.

Now that Cosmo wasn't being rushed he had a few moments to examine the basement. There were a couple of metal red barrels with wooden boxes, both large and small, on top of them. There were lanterns scattered throughout the basement giving it light, some were hanging on nails in the walls the others were sitting on a barrel or out of the way. The ceiling was seeming a bit water damaged lately, for it occasionally leaked in some places. Pipes were traveling all over the walls and all of them led up to a small gap in the corner of the ceiling. It leaked the most there.

"Hey Shivertail",Cosmo quietly said.

Shivertail came to his senses and looked beside him, "Hmm yes, Cosmo is it?"

Cosmo nodded, "I have to ask you something."

Shivertail seemed a little more interested, "I'm listening."

"Before I got here, while I was carrying Kaida, I saw someone in the streets."

"Who was it?",Shivertail interrupted. "Did he get to safety?"

"I don't know who it was. He was a big dragon, bigger than you in fact, and he was white all over. I saw a few markings on him but I couldn't see them. And his eyes, were white, like shiny white. When he saw me, he suddenly vanished before me."

"Vanished?"

"As in one second he's there, you blink and he's gone."

Shivertail thought about it then replied, "I don't know who it was. Maybe he was a spirit."

"Spirit?"

Shivertail nodded, "I seen one myself, however is was too long ago. I was in the forest and I seen a dragon. He was like the details you just described except he was black instead of white."

"I wonder what they mean?"

"Cosmo",Shivertail began but lowered his voice. "When I got home that day, I found my parents dead. Someone had broke into our home, stole almost everything we had and killed my mother and father."

"That's terrible, I'm sorry."

"That's not all, I had a close friend back then, it was a few years after my parents died. He was had gotten ill one day, so ill that he was taken to a hospital. The next day, he was dead." Shivertail went silent for a few moments before continuing. "But he told me something before he was sent to the hospital."

Cosmo waited for the answer but asked, "What did he tell you?"

Shivertail was in thought for a few seconds before saying, "He told me he saw a black dragon, an hour before he became ill."

"The same black dragon you saw perhaps?"

Shivertail shrugged, "Maybe, my theory, is that the black dragon, means death."

"Death? Are there others like the black dragon?"

"There is one more that I have heard about, I've read some reports saying that one dragon seen a large green dragon in his home before. The green dragon vanished, and the next day, the dragon who saw the green dragon, had the most incredible luck anyone had ever seen. This dragon was winning games and even bets and was rich the next day."

Cosmo was amazed at the story, "Incredible, a luck dragon!"

Shivertail grinned, "Yes indeed it was, I have often wondered if there were others and what you told me earlier, about the white dragon, that hunch was correct."

"So, any idea on what this dragon means?"

"I may know but I'm not entirely sure. We are just going to have to wait and see what happens to you."

Cosmo wasn't too joyed about being an experiment, "Sounds delightful",he replied sarcastically.

Shivertail chuckled, "Well, it's all we can do right now about that problem, but there is another problem we can solve right now."

"And what is that?",Cosmo asked.

"It's knowing whether or not we can leave this musty basement."

Cosmo waited for Shivertail but he was still, "So, are we gonna flip a coin or draw straws?"

"I was listening, it seems calm outside but I will check."

Shivertail walked up the stairs. Each creaky step made Cosmo want to push him faster. He wanted Kaida out of here. Shivertail leaned his head against the door and slowly turned the old handle. The door opened and he slowly creaked it to a crack and checked outside.

"Come on up, the storm seems to have passed but a some clouds still remain."

Cosmo went upstairs and followed Shivertail out. The sun surely wasn't shining but there were a few cracks in the clouds that led up to the darkening blue sky. Cosmo guessed it was past five o' clock.

He and Shivertail looked around at the disaster. Destroyed buildings and rubble blocking the streets. You could easily tell the tornado's path. The path went right across the front door of the basement and nothing but rubble was left in front of them.

"Bollocks, and we were almost through with the repairs and now we have to start over. It has all been for nothing and I was looking forward to the festival."

Cosmo couldn't believe it either. He wondered if Kaida's home still stood in place or if it was just a big pile of nothing. He shook his head at the disaster, and this was just the beginning.

"Cosmo, go get the others."

"What about Kaida?"

"I'll get her to the nearest hospital so we can treat her wounds properly."

"_That's if one still stands_",Cosmo thought.

He walked back into the basement and down the stairs and everyone was already up. Everyone except Kaida.

"Are we free to leave?",one of the dragons asked.

Cosmo nodded, "Shivertail is waiting outside, just try not to trip over any rubble. There is a lot believe you me."

One by one the dragons walked and Cosmo could hear their shocked gasps as they saw the disaster. The last one up was the red dragon, before he walked up he stopped by Cosmo.

"That was something you did for her",the red dragon said. "I never told you my name before have I?"

"Nor I, I'm Cosmo."

"Mine's Torch, it was great working with you Cosmo."

"Likewise Torch, we should probably be heading up now."

Torch and Cosmo made their way upstairs and everyone stood in a group, some pointing at destroyed buildings while others stood speechless. Shivertail looked at Cosmo and went back in the basement to pick up the sleeping Kaida. He brought her back out and Cosmo couldn't tell if she was still sleeping or unconscious. Shivertail checked listened toward her chest, and he heard a faint heartbeat, it was slower than it was supposed to, but she was alive and that was all Cosmo was wanting.

_Meanwhile_

Spyro looked through the window, awestruck by the aftermath. The tornado didn't ever get to them, but at one moment Spyro and Cynder hid in the closet along with the egg for fifteen minutes. When things seemed calm Spyro went out to take a look while Cynder remained with the egg.

Spyro was still looking through the window and realized Cynder was still in the closet. He made his way to the closet, knocked, and opened it. Cynder looked up at him with the question on her face, Was it safe?

"It's safe. The tornado is gone but I'm afraid so is a few buildings."

Cynder walked out the closet and straight to the nearest window in her room to take a look. She seen all the disaster, but she remained silent at it. It left a bad aftertaste in her mouth at what she saw. So much disaster in such a short time.

War couldn't even have done so much damage in the short time. Maybe war wasn't the worst thing that could happen. When mother nature was mad, that was the real danger. Cynder just hoped the casualties was low.

That note told them the future and it had come true. A sacrifice was made, but she didn't know it would cost this much.


	10. Aftermath

Chapter 10

Aftermath

The hospital Shivertail mentioned was a small building, two stories high and it was quite busy. Dragons were rushing to patients to help them while others were weeping over their losses.

The building was white to show its importance and a few windows were seen on it, both the first and second floor. A few had a few cracks on in from various debris smashing into the window from the strong winds from the tornado. No one was expecting the storm to be this bad.

Shivertail and Cosmo entered the building, Kaida in the safety of Shivertail. Inside were many seats mostly all taken by other dragons, all worried about their friends, brothers, sisters, even parents. Shivertail noticed a doctor near the front desk and rushed over to him. An important looking dragon noticed Shivertail and the patient he was carrying.

"What happened?",the dragon asked examining Kaida. He noticed a puncture wound in her side. Cosmo guessed he worked at the hospital but he wasn't wearing any identification that he was a doctor of some sort. Of course things were a bit chaotic at the moment so he didn't think much of it.

"She was inside a building when it collapsed and she isn't looking to good",Shivertail answered.

Cosmo was still occupied watching everyone else in the room. He only wanted to hear good news, but he knew something wasn't right about the whole situation. The tornado was so sudden, there should have been signs that it was coming.

The medical dragon looked around the room then looked back at Shivertail then said in a low tone, "Come with me."

The dragon began walking toward a long hall filled with doors and dragons moving about. Shivertail followed and Cosmo began to follow but Shivertail said, "Wait here Cosmo. The medics need as much room as they can get during this time."

Cosmo stopped and watched the medic dragon and Shivertail walk down the long polished looking hall with Kaida. Then Cosmo noticed something, the medic dragon was white scaled all over. But the irony didn't make Cosmo feel better at all. He was a little frustrated at Shivertail for telling him to stay behind. Was he saying that Cosmo would just get in the way? He didn't like that idea one bit. He deeply exhaled and turned around toward the exit and headed for it. He wasn't going to just sit in one spot during Kaida's time of need.

He made his way outside onto the streets. A few more dragons were on the streets than earlier. Most of them were looking at the disaster while others seemed to be headed toward the hospital he was in front of. He heard a faint flapping noise which made him look up to the sight of a few dragons flying over the destruction. Cosmo hung his head low in depression. He just hoped Kaida was going to be alright.

"Cosmo?"

Cosmo picked his head up in surprise and turned, "Spyro?"

Spyro forced a small grin, "Fancy meeting you here."

"Unfortunately",Cosmo replied with a following sigh.

Spyro recognized that kind of sigh and asked, "What's wrong? Where's Kaida?"

Cosmo looked back at Spyro in a pitiful way. Spyro studied the look for a moment then the answer came to him without Cosmo saying a word.

Cosmo looked back at the building behind him then back at Spyro, "Something happened, and I don't know what is going to happen."

Spyro walked closer to Cosmo as he hung his head low again, "Hey . . . don't worry about it. Everything is going to be alright."

_Meanwhile 5:43 p.m._

The room labeled as room 141 was flooded with dragons. A patient was lying on the uncomfortable looking bed as three medic dragons were grouped around the bed.

"Status?", one of the dragons in the back asked.

"We're losing her! Static!", the blue female dragon yelped.

Static placed his paws on the patients chest. "Clear!", Static yelled as he sent electric pulse through his paws.

The sudden powerful jolt made the patient jerk. The blue dragon laid her head over the patients heart then replied, "It's still faint, we'll need to work fast! Yashmira! She lost a lot of blood on the way here, hand me a blood pack!"

"Aye Delilia", the gray dragon quickly responded. He reached behind him and retrieved a pack which contained a red liquid inside and handed it over to blue dragon or Delilia as she was called.

Delilia frowned as she fumbled through a mess of tubes then when she stumbled across the right size for the bag, she connected the tube to the bottom of the bag. "Yashmira!"

Yashmira grabbed the other end of the tube then looked down at the patient. He extended one of his sharp claws toward her right paw. "I'm glad you're unconscious", Yashmira said to himself.

If a dragon had lost a lot of blood, that was not a good thing. The process was indeed very painful for a conscious person to withstand making Yashmira thankful that the patient was unconscious. He never liked to hear the screaming of someone as he cut open a place in their paws to painfully insert a half-inch tube. There were even a few reports of dragons dieing in the process but it was rare.

When the process was complete Yashmira made a slight nod toward Delilia, wiping off his claw of blood in the process. Delilia then went to the source of the blood loss itself while she had the chance. A wound on her side from what she was told but she was just now getting to it.

It looked as if it were quickly stitched up. Because of that it was poorly done. Delilia sighed as she lifted a claw and cut the stitches loose. She was going to have to do it anyways for she had to clean the inside of the wound. If there were something like maybe a shard of metal of wood and the wound sealed with it inside, it would be a problem in the future. Better to deal with it now.

The moment the wound was open, blood began seeping out of it. Delilia growled and she swiped a pair of tweezers from an overhead compartment and carefully looked in the wound.

She began to go to work. A few moments later Delilia finished her work. She retrieved a few shards of what seemed like wood from the wound, which were placed on a silver plate beside her on a small table.

"Static, hand me that-"

"Here",Static said with a smile as he handed over a small white box that was clamped shut.

Delilia smiled and she took it and opened it. It contained various medical supplies but she was looking for one in particular. She retrieved a needle with a small hole at the end of it. She continued digging through the box until she found the other part of the needle, a strong string-like substance used to stitch up wounds.

She clamped the box shut and returned it to Static. She then began to get to work on the wound while Static and Yashmira were whispering to each other during the process.

"You think we're gonna get paid overtime?",Yashmira asked as he leaned on the wall behind him.

Static shrugged, "It doesn't matter."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that now isn't a time to be thinking about my own finances but a time to keep my head held up high."

"Well, I could use the money. My home was destroyed during this cursed day. Me and my family had to make a run for it."

"That's nothing. I was fleeing from the tornado when I saw a toddler become engulfed in the tornado. It was horrible."

Yashmira stayed silent for a moment. Things were looking bleak at the moment, who knew how much damage that storm actually did, even so, how many lives it took. When things were looking as if they were going to be normal again, something comes along to destroy those hopes, those dreams. He was beginning to feel a little guilty for what he asked Static earlier about money.

"Static! On the double!",Delilia yelled.

Static ran over and read her face all over. He placed both paws on the patients chest and yelled, "Clear!", then sent a jolt of electricity through the patient.

Delilia placed her head on the patients chest then lifted her head quickly yelling, "Again!"

"Clear!",Static yelled as he sent more jolts of electricity through the patient, this time a bit more. The patients lifeless body jumped during the process making Yashmira close his eyes. He hated this process.

Delilia listened for the patients heart beat but heard nothing, "Again! Double the power!"

Static hesitated but obeyed, "Clear!", he yelled as he sent twice as much jolts as before. The patients body seemed to catch air but Delilia still couldn't hear what she was wanting to hear.

"Static! Triple it!"

"Delilia, you know what could happen if I do that!"

"I know, it's a risk but do it!"

Static hesitated. He knew what could happen for he had experience more than one time. The patients heart would literally explode from from all the power. It was the last option they had though. So Static obeyed.

_Meanwhile 5:57 p.m._

Spyro and Cosmo waited impatiently in the front room along with all the other dragons waiting for the news of their relatives or friends. Cosmo couldn't sit still, he was too nervous. Spyro tried to ease his burden. He told him of his past adventures, where he was born, how he fought against Cynder, Gaul, and Malefor. The recent battle against humans which was one of the main reasons why the city was under construction. The losses he accepted and the battles he lost.

But Cosmo was still just as uneasy as he was to begin with. Cosmo was pacing around while Spyro waited on one of the few remaining chairs that wasn't taken by someone else.

There was something about Cosmo that Spyro couldn't understand though. He couldn't explain it in words, it was just some feeling. Like Cosmo wasn't being himself ever since the two of them met.

Spyro shrugged the feeling and was suddenly lost in thought. Telling his story earlier was making him think about the past. The battle he had against the one's who called themselves humans. Spyro hated them for what they had done. Especially for what they had done to him in particular. Spyro squeezed his paw on the arm of the chair at the very thought of it. So hard to the point where he was beginning to leave a mark in the chair where he was squeezing.

War, he didn't know why they came or where they came from, but he lost so much that day. Spyro's thoughts continued onwards into the parts of his mind he thought he blocked out. He remembered the sacrifice that was made only to repel the enemy away. He swore under his breath as he felt something on his shoulder. Spyro realized he was being shook on the shoulder by Cosmo.

"Hey, you alright?"

Spyro loosened his grip on the arm of the chair and took his paw off it to the sight of the imprint of his paw pressed into it from the sheer force of his anger.

Cosmo looked at the imprint in surprise then asked, "Something wrong?"

Spyro sat for a moment then shook his head, "No . . . it's nothing."

Cosmo thought for a moment then returned to his pacing. Spyro shook his head of the thoughts, he didn't want to travel down that road ever again.

"Cosmo, you're needed in room 141."

Cosmo turned to his left to see a dragon a little bigger than himself. He was gray and wore a necklace which was labeled "Yashmira". He guessed it was the dragon's name.

"Okay, thanks."

Yashmira watched the yellow dragon walk in a fast pace down the hall. Yashmira looked around the room and held his head low. "I'm sorry."

Spyro heard the dragon then turned and said, "You're sorry?"

Yashmira looked up at the purple dragon and turned his head, "Nothing."

Spyro studied the dragon for a moment then said, "Okay then."

_Meanwhile 6:04 p.m._

Torch was walking down the streets with his partner, Micha. The pink dragon was usually always taking walks with Torch around the same time each day, but now definitely wasn't a time for an enchanting walk.

The damage was more than he had anticipated by far. It was going to take months to fix everything now. Something that obviously wasn't good at all.

Torch too noticed that this storm was strange in its own way. It was so sudden to the point where it was impossible. Most dragons said otherwise but something urged Torch to investigate. Micha, who would occasionally be laughed at for her weird name, accompanied Torch for she believed him when he told her the story.

According to Micha, their home miraculously still stood. Whatever force protected it Torch was thankful for it. Torch was about to head to the hospital Cosmo was in for a report on Kaida but he was still inspecting the damages. So he and Micha took the skies too make the search a bit faster.

It seemed as if the tornado barely changed direction. It kept on its usual course for a few kilometers until it seemed to turn ninety degrees to the left. Torch and Micha followed and trail of disaster until it exited the city walls and into the forests.

"The forests looks nearly destroyed where that blasted Tornado went. All I see is fallen trees and rubble",Torch said breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Terrible",Micha responded. "This storm was something out of the ordinary."

Torch knew she was stating the obvious but said, "Yes, you're right. I can't tell how far the tornado went after the forest but I hope it didn't get too far."

"Ditto, I just hope that casualties are low but the way the hospitals are working . . ."

"I know",Torch added. "I just try and not to think about it. Anyways, we should be heading toward the hospital. I need to check up on someone."

"Cosmo and Kaida?",Micha asked.

Torch only replied with a nod as the two of them headed off in the hospitals direction.

_Meanwhile, In the Streets of Warfang 6:07 p.m._

Dragons wept as others ran in all sorts of directions. Cynder was sitting in a small square with a non working fountain in the middle of it. She was sitting by a building just watching the dragons and examining the nightmare. The tornado never hit the square so Cynder was gathering as much information as she could for the time being seeing Spyro decided to take off to a hospital to see if he could help out in some way.

Cynder stayed in bed for the moment but couldn't sleep so she walked to the square. She couldn't believe the sight. There were still rubble lying around the square from the high powered winds but it didn't stop her from gathering enough information about the storm by eavesdropping on different conversations.

She was only able to learn something about the storm being out of the ordinary and the casualties were already too much. Something Cynder could have figured out by herself. But there was one conversation that was stirring her attention. She looked toward her left and there was a red dragon and a brown dragon having a conversation with each other. They were keeping it a little quiet making Cynder ease closer toward them. When she was within the distance needed, she began listening.

"Disaster, just disaster. I don't believe this",the brown dragon sadly said.

"Well at least your parents are still alive. Mine are gone . . ."

"I'm sorry, I know how you feel."

"How do you know what I'm feeling?", the red dragon objected. "Your parents are still alive and in one piece."

"Yea, but they're in the hospital."

"I know they are but the doctor said they were going to be okay."

"But I thought they were going to die."

"You still don't know. But I saw something before they died, or someone strange."

The brown dragon seemed worried, "Who was it?"

"I don't really know. It was a little after the storm had passed and I was alone on the streets hoping my parents were going to be alright while I waited outside the hospital. I saw someone in the distance down the streets."

"What did he look like?", the brown dragon asked. Cynder picked her head up interested in the story also.

"He was big and black all over. When I saw him, he spread his wings then just suddenly vanished."

"Vanished?"

"Aye, I was only able to make out a few markings on the dragons side. It looked as if he had ancient symbols or something on him."

"Symbols huh?" The brown dragon groaned in thought. "I never heard of something like this before. Maybe we should tell someone about this?"

The red dragon shook his head, "They'll think I'm crazy."

Cynder immediately backed away from the conversation to avoid being seen. She didn't want them to think she was eavesdropping even though she was.

_Hospital 6:05 p.m._

Spyro waited in front for Cosmo for return. Yashmira kindly told him that Cosmo was sent to room 141. He knew it was something about Kaida so he waited, heart beating a little faster than normal. He didn't know Kaida as long as Cosmo had but he was worried about her too.

Time passed, it seemed it was taking forever for Cosmo to return and Spyro's growing anticipation for the results were getting on edge. He kept glancing down the hallway to see if Cosmo was coming or not.

When Cosmo finally revealed himself Spyro forced a small grin.

"So let me hear it, Kaida is going to alright right?"

"Kaida is . . ."

"Yes yes?"

"Kaida is . . . gone."

Spyro's small grin vanished as he asked, "What do you mean gone?"

"She's . . . dead."

Cosmo stood in place, speechless. Spyro was also speechless. He was sure Kaida was going to be just fine, but even heroes made mistakes.


	11. Kaida's Gift

Chapter 11

Kaida's Gift

Micha separated herself from Torch halfway to the hospital. Torch told her he was going to a hospital to visit someone but she didn't do hospitals. She was flying by herself toward home when she began wondering what the time was. She couldn't tell but it was beginning to get a little dark so she guessed it must have been sometime past six o'clock.

After a few moments of flying and the occasional breeze, Micha finally landed on an empty street. The street was strangely empty, no debris like she was used to seeing, no strode out trash or dragons. She passes by a couple of small buildings and turned toward a larger than average looking home.

It was two stories high with two windows on the seconds story and three on the third. The front yard was decorated with grass that seemed to be a bit overgrown and an anthill toward the other end of the yard. Micha looked up toward the chimneystack. It stood around two feet higher than the roof itself but Micha noticed something odd. Smoke was rising through the chimney.

Micha didn't remember lighting the fireplace, even if she did she would have made sure the fire was out before she left anywhere. The thought of Torch lighting did come to her head, but Torch hadn't been home all day.

That left only one option, someone was inside.

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo was on his way to his temporary home accompanied by Spyro.

Cosmo was silent, dead silent. Spyro couldn't even hardly hear him breathe. It was like Spyro was taking a walk with a ghost. The only noise Cosmo ever made was the pitter patter of his footsteps on the streets below him.

Spyro stayed silent as well during the walk. He didn't know what to say. He spent the whole time thinking of what to say but nothing ever came to him.

The uncomfortable walk was coming to an end as Spyro led him to the street where he lived. But it looked as if he was going to take Cosmo for a walk down disaster lane.

"Oh no",Spyro mumbled.

Cosmo looked up and to make things worse than they already were, every home on the street was torn to shreds. This was indeed the path the tornado had took. But Cosmo still stayed silent, not even showing any facial expression. It was like he already knew his home was gone.

They still continued walking down the street and arrived at the ruins of Kaida's home. It was a terrible sight to look at.

The roof was peeled off and the windows were shattered. Most of the walls were either leaning, or crumbled to the ground. Nothing but rubble from the looks of things.

Spyro began hearing a faint noise and looked over at Cosmo. Spyro realized that Cosmo was crying over the loss of Kaida.

Spyro didn't know what to do, Cynder had been in situations like this before but even then he was just guessing on what to do. Luckily it seemed he did the right thing each time, so he pressed his luck.

"It's okay Cosmo",Spyro faintly said as he put a paw on Cosmo's shoulder.

_Meanwhile_

Torch finally arrived at the hospital and immediately went inside. It was a bit busy but not like it was earlier. Torch began scoping the room for any signs of Cosmo.

When Torch realized he wasn't in the room, he decided to bother one of the busy doctors for a moment.

"Excuse me",Torch called to the nearest medic. The blue scaled medic dragon turned and Torch saw her nametag which read 'Delilia'.

"Yes", Delilia replied. "Do you need something or someone?"

"I'm looking for someone. He's yellow scaled and he was with a silver female. The yellow dragon went by the name of Cosmo and the silver dragon was Kaida.

Delilia looked down, "Were you, a friend of Kaida?"

"Well",Torch began. "Not really but I was worried. I helped Cosmo get her to safety."

"Oh I see",Delilia took a deep breath. "I'm sorry but, she didn't make it."

Torch fell silent as Delilia continued her story, "We tried to save her, but she lost too much blood and her wound was too deep."

"Okay, thanks for your help."

Delilia bowed, "I'm sorry for your loss." Delilia continued her work as Torch made his way back into the streets. It wasn't really his loss but he still felt bad for Cosmo.

_Ruins of Kaida's Home_

Spyro sat back and watched Cosmo dig through the rubble. He wasn't sure what he was looking for but he wasn't going to stop him.

Cosmo looked throughout Kaida's room searching for something. Spyro watched him turned over many obstacles in the way in his search but he wasn't having much process. Spyro couldn't help but to yawn in the process.

Cosmo was pretty much on his knees, looking under an overturned wall and spotted something brown. He got as close as he could and found what he was looking for, or so he hoped. It was a dresser, how it still remained was a mystery. Maybe the wall fell on top of it where it stayed until the stormed passed? The dresser was overturned and lying face up, that was all he could see.

But Cosmo couldn't reach it, the wall was on top of it. So Cosmo attempted to merely push it out of the way.

Spyro looked and realized what he was trying to do then asked, "Need any help?"

But the question answered itself when Cosmo easily pushed the wall out of the wall as if it were nothing. Part of the wall crumbled as it fell onto flat ground making dust fly into the air. Spyro was surprised.

"Cosmo, how did you do that by yourself?"

Cosmo looked at him and said nothing as he walked up to the dresser. It was damaged but it still could be used. He began opening compartments from the bottom up.

"You're not an ordinary dragon, are you?"

Cosmo was still silent as he opened the last drawer. Cosmo peered inside and spotted something shimmer in the bottom left corner. He reached for it, grabbed it, and pulled it out and closely examined it.

It was a small wooden box he could easily hold in one paw. The front of the box was decorated with two silver dragons crossing over one another into an X shape. The dragons on it looked young for their wings weren't all that large. There were a couple of scratches here and there but nothing too noticeable.

Cosmo opened the box and he immediately began to hear a melody begin to play. It was a music box, inside of it was a drawn picture of what looked like a young Kaida. There were words inscribed into the wood under the photo. They were small but Cosmo managed to read it.

It read, "_Never look back at what has happened, always look ahead to what can happen._"

There seemed to be a few more words inscribed inside of it but it was illiterate due to age. The music box must have been very old so Cosmo handled it with care as he listened to the heart-lifting melody.

_Meanwhile_

Torch searched the streets around the hospital just in case Cosmo was still hanging around someplace. When the streets were searched more than once, Torch began his flight toward the most obvious place Cosmo could have went. He just hoped that place still stood.

The clouds were beginning to thin up and the sun was beginning to show itself on the horizon. But it's shine was slowly dissipating. Torch enjoyed the impeccable sight even though the clouds around it carried the calamity that destroyed their city again for the second time.

He still remembered what had happened the first time and Torch doubted he wouldn't forget. He thought Malefor's troops were bad. When Malefor disappeared, so did his troops but it wasn't Malefor's troops that did all the damage to the city.

Suddenly Torch's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden gust of wind from the right of him. It pulled him left a bit but he still had control over himself. Torch shook his head of thoughts as he continued keeping an eye on the streets below just in case.

A few moments later he arrived at his destination and landed onto the messy streets below. He landed at an intersection and noticed that most of the homes and occasional building were destroyed.

"_Not good_",Torch thought as he turned left and headed down the street.

Torch carefully examined the scenery that was around him as he traveled. Everywhere there was was nothing but ruins of homes. He just hoped everyone made it out in time before the tornado struck.

Then in the streets, Torch spotted a dragon looking at something. As he walked closer he noticed it wasn't any ordinary dragon but it was the purple dragon Spyro. As Torch walked closer to him he noticed another dragon standing in front of what used to be a house.

"Cosmo?",Torch called out.

Cosmo looked up and closed the music box he had. Spyro looked at the red dragon then back at Cosmo. He figured he was a friend but he stayed quiet.

"Cosmo",Torch said as he stopped a few feet away from the dragon. "You alright?"

Cosmo shook his head, "I've been better."

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"For what?",Cosmo asked. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Neither did you Cosmo."

"That's the point!",Cosmo yelled. "I did everything I could and yet she still died! I just wasn't strong enough to even save her."

Spyro had second thoughts of that for what he saw Cosmo do earlier but he remained silent.

Torch was quiet for a moment then said, "Listen, if you need anything, look me up. I'll be happy to help you out."

Cosmo looked up into the orange sky. He didn't even know Torch much but yet, he was actually willing to continue helping him? In Cosmo's world, a human stranger wouldn't do anything of the sort. If he did it was a rare sight to see.

Cosmo heard a story before and he remembered it quite well. The story went as a woman was being mugged by a man with a handgun. A homeless man saw the act and rushed in to help the woman. The homeless man gotten shot in the process as the man ran away from the scene and the woman ran away also. The homeless man was slowly beginning to bleed out, but that wasn't the worst part of it. In the busy streets of New York, the man was lying on the sidewalk with many people actually walking by the dieing man without giving any notice to him. Some people were even having conversations with each other beside the dieing man, one man even took his camera out and took a picture of the dieing homeless man. A few hours later, the homeless man finally died.

This story had a meaning. No one ever called the police for everyone thought that someone else had done it already so they forgot the whole ordeal. With everyone thinking the same thing, nothing ever got done. This was called the bystander effect.

Cosmo's thoughts vanished as he noticed Torch had disappeared. He looked around him and saw Spyro was still with him. Cosmo looked at the music box he had been holding the whole time then he looked back at the ruins of what used to be Kaida's home.

Cosmo looked back at Spyro then asked, "Spyro, I need to ask you a huge favor."

Spyro snapped out of his thoughts, "Yes?"

"Is there any way I can stay in your home for a little while? Just until I can get things sorted out."

Spyro stayed silent for a few moments then asked, "I'll have to ask Cynder first but I don't see why not."

Cosmo made a small smile making Spyro say, "Finally, a smile. I haven't seen one of those on you in a while."

"Yea well, I just don't know what else I can do at the moment."

Cosmo felt a little embarrassed by asking Spyro something so big on such short notice. He didn't know if he could ask Torch such a favor for he didn't know him that well. Even though Torch helped him out, he just couldn't ask him. He knew Spyro a bit more but he still didn't know Spyro that well either. But it was either ask Spyro, or go hunting for Torch in which he had no idea where to start.

_Later_

Cynder laid back on the couch in relaxation soaking in the information she gathered in the square. Her thoughts mostly lingered around the esoteric black dragon she heard about. Her thoughts roamed as the outside sun was beginning to hide itself, bringing darkness unto the city.

Cynder was beginning to doze off, then she heard some chatter outside her home. Wondering who it was, she made her way toward the door and peeked through the small window beside it.

She spotted Spyro coming toward the door. Was he talking to himself? Cynder eased around the window more and spotted a familiar looking yellow dragon with him.

Cynder backed away from the window and opened the door and walked outside.

"Hey Cynder", Spyro greeted.

"Hey", Cynder said as she eyed the yellow dragon. Cosmo looked down as if he was trespasser.

"Cynder, you remember Cosmo right?"

Cynder sat for a moment then replied, "Oh yea, I remember. We had lunch right, with that friend of yours . . . Kaida."

Cosmo remained silent as Spyro explained, "Yes that's him. But Cosmo . . . needs our help."

"How so?"

"He needs a place to stay and I thought he could stay with us for a while. Until he finds a place."

Cynder was silent for a moment, "Well, I don't know."

"What do you mean? He needs our help, if we don't he'll probably end up on the streets for tonight."

"Okay, but he'll have to sleep on the couch",Cynder replied in a low tone.

Spyro looked over at Cosmo, "Is that alright?"

Cosmo nodded, "Of course, it's far better than concrete."

"Alright then",Cynder replied. "What about your other friend Kaida. Will she need a place to stay or-"

Cynder stopped as she noticed Spyro violently shaking his head and mouthing the word 'no' repeatedly.

"I mean, go on inside and make yourself at home",she said as she stepped to the side letting Cosmo through.

As Cosmo went inside Cynder said, "We'll be outside if you need us. If you're hungry there should be something to have in the kitchen."

Cosmo was about to say something until the door quickly shut leaving him by himself. He stood in place for a minute, wondering if he should sit down or not.

Cynder and Spyro walked down to the street then Cynder said, "You sure about this Spyro? I mean, we do have an egg inside which hardly anyone knows about."

"Cynder, he needs our help. He'll just be staying until he can find a place to stay for himself."

"What about Kaida? Where is she?"

Spyro answered a moment later, "The morgue."

Cynder realized what he meant and stayed silent for a moment. She suddenly felt bad on how she had been acting.

Spyro continued, "Kaida died during that storm. She was inside a building when it collapsed from what I've heard and Cosmo tried to save her."

"You mean, he was out in the streets during that storm?"

"Running from the tornado itself yeah. I was surprised however by what I recently witnessed him do."

"What did he do?"

Spyro looked both ways to make sure they were alone then said, "He shoved a whole wall of a house to the side by himself with ease. This wall must have been well over two hundred pounds, but he made it look like twenty."

Cynder was too much in thought to respond. She was trying to imagining Cosmo pushing away a wall but she just didn't believe it.

Spyro continued, "Cynder, Cosmo isn't any ordinary dragon from what I believe. I don't know what kind of dragon he is but do you remember when he chased away that cloaked figure that was spying on you?"

Cynder thought back in time then said, "Yes, what about it?"

"Well, Cosmo never got to tell me how, but he told me he could see clearly in the pitch black dark. Like he had some sort of, ability to see anything in the darkness."

Cynder looked up into the darkening sky then back at Spyro, "Strange, sounds like some sort of power or ability. Maybe it's just some special ability. Something like you and me. We can use four different elements while most of everyone else can only master one."

"Well, when he shoved that wall aside, it made me think back to him chasing that cloaked figure behind our home. I think Cosmo is, special, in some sort of way. He's getting abilities not even the purple dragons could have."

"Jealous?",Cynder smirked.

"No",Spyro quickly replied. "Just curious."

"You know curiosity can kill right?",Cynder said as she made her way back toward her home.

Spyro began to follow, "It all depends on how deep you go."

Cynder stopped in front of the door.

"I guess I better apologize",Cynder said as she placed her paw on the handle.

Spyro remained silent as she opened the door. She looked inside for Cosmo and saw him layed out on the couch, sleeping the time away.

Cynder thought for a moment if she should wake him or not. After deciding not to, she decided to go toward her bedroom until she saw something that caught her eye on the stool beside the couch.

It was some sort of small wooden box with two silver dragons on the front. She didn't remember it being there so she assumed it was something of Cosmo's. She looked at it for a moment then put it back down where it was and continued to the bedroom.

_Earlier_

_Torches Home_

Micha had just arrived home when she spotted evidence that someone could be inside the house that was supposed to be empty. She didn't know why the fireplace was going but she was about to find out.

She slowly crept her way toward the door, careful not tocareful not to make too much noise. She hugged herself to the wall beside the door and took a deep breath as she reached for the handle.

She slowly turned the handle and the door creaked open. The creaking made Micha even more nervous than she actually was. She peeked inside.

She was looking in the kitchen, it was a fairly large kitchen making Kaida look twice before stepping inside.

A marbled counter stretched from the door Micha just entered, all the way to the wall which the counter turned and continued to the other door that led into the living room. The counter had many utensils on top of it along with a chain of overhead compartments. A table was neatly placed in the middle of the kitchen and there was a window toward Micha's left.

Micha made a right and carefully crept toward the door to the living room. She carefully peered inside, being even more careful for the living room contained the fireplace.

Two couches were in the living room with three rocking chairs, each with its own footrest in front of it. Many colorful paintings hung on the wall around the fireplace to make the place even more fancy looking. Straight in front of Micha was a door that led upstairs to a few bedrooms and a bathroom. Toward Micha's left was a door that led to the bedroom her and Torch slept in.

As Micha looked inside she noticed something. One of the rocking chairs was rocking.

Unable to tell what was causing it, Micha was forced to move in closer. The closer she got the more her heart beating increased. When she got to the point that she was right behind the chair, she took a deep breath and slowly lifted her head over the back of the chair with her claws ready.

Then she was baffled at what she saw. There was no one there.

She also noticed something else that troubled her. The fireplace wasn't burning. In fact, it seemed that there was still good wood inside it.

Micha quickly turned around and looked everywhere. No one was in the room.

She slowly made her way toward her bedroom and peered inside.

There was a dresser with a mirror hanging over it toward her left with the bed beside it. Another painting of what looked like a group of dragons was hanging over it. That painting was done by an artist, it was sketched after her family.

Micha slowly sneaked across the tan carpeted floor to check the other side of the bed. Nothing.

Micha turned right and made her way toward the other bathroom. She peered inside. Still nothing.

Was someone toying with her? Whoever it was was making her angry.

Micha was a little quicker this time for she wasn't sneaking anymore. She figured whoever it was was only playing games with her. But she noticed something. The rocking chair, was still rocking just as much as it was before.

Micha was beginning to feel confused. She looked to her left and began to head up the stairs when all the sudden she heard a _thump_ from up the stairs. She stopped for a moment then noticed a small ball soundlessly bouncing down the stairs. The ball bounced by Micha and was stopped by the carpeted floors.

Micha looked at the ball with a careful eye. She didn't recognize it at all. Micha looked back up the stairs and made her way up them.

The stairs ended at a wall making her turn left and left again to reveal a hallway with rooms on both sides. Micha slowly checked each bedroom, each looking like her own for guests. Each room was empty. All except the last one.

Micha saw a black dragon standing in the room staring out the window.

Instead of calling out to the mysterious dragon, she decided to sneak up on him. When she was close enough to grab him from behind, she did.

Or so she thought. He arms had actually fell through the dragon and Micha almost fell to the floor. Micha recovered her balance and quickly looked back up.

The dragon was gone.

Micha was baffled. She quickly left the room, frightened a bit by what was happening. She made her way down the stairs and noticed.

The ball that bounced down the stairs earlier was gone. She looked around the room and her heart skipped a beat.

All three rocking chairs in the living room was rocking now. Micha was beginning to feel frightened at what was happening. She ran to the rocking chairs and placed her paws on the closest one to stop it. It wouldn't stop. She tried to pull the chair to a stop but her strength just wasn't enough to stop it.

She let go, backed up a few steps and began to hear something. It wasn't understandable at first, it only sounded like someone mumbling. Then as the mumbling began to get louder, and louder, and even louder, Micha was beginning to feel terrified.

The mumbling suddenly transformed into a bloodcurdling scream. Micha was so terrified to the point that she began to weep. The walls began to look weird to Micha, then the paintings on the walls began to literally melt off the walls.

Micha didn't know what else to do other than run. So she ran toward the kitchen. The table inside suddenly snapped in half for no reason at all and the bloodcurdling scream was still echoing through her mind. The cabinets above the shelf were opening and closing all by themselves for no reason at all. Micha was about to exit through the door, when it shut by itself.

Micha tried to open it, but failed for the handle wouldn't turn one bit. Micha turned herself into a battering ram as she hammered herself against the door multiple times.

The screaming was getting louder and the walls themselves were suddenly beginning to melt. Micha closed her eyes as she rammed herself against the door, but to no use. Then Micha noticed something on the wall. Something was appearing on the wall beside the broken table. Words were beginning to form on the wall. But it was what those words were wrote with that made Micha nearly gag. The words were written with rotting blood and they said, "_Manir fel ma sal gresinsha._"

Micha didn't know what it meant but she wasn't stopping on finding a way out of the madhouse.

She only caught a glimpse of the living room but wished she hadn't. The living room walls looked to be replaced with blood and the room itself was filling with blood as if the walls themselves were flooding the room.

She quickly looked around and spotted the window on the other side of the broken table. She ran toward one of the chairs that was under the table, picked one up, and through it at the window. The chair broke through the window making a gap big enough for Micha to leap through. So she did just that.

She leaped through the window and landed on the grass outside. A sudden pain was felt on her side. She looked and saw a cut. She guessed she cut herself jumping through the window but didn't think much of it as she ran down the street in horror.


	12. Letting It Go

Chapter 12

Letting It Go

Darkness engulfed Cosmo's surroundings making visibility short. His ability to see in the dark, wasn't working here. Wherever here was.

Cosmo began walking, not knowing where to go or why, but he just felt like he needed to.

Wherever Cosmo went, darkness was taking it up. After what seemed an hour walking, Cosmo stopped to the sense of a presence nearby. He squinted as he searched, but found nothing. Whoever it was was making good use of the darkness the surrounded him.

"Hello?",Cosmo called out not seeing any other way to actually know if he was being watched.

He heard something but couldn't make out what it was, before the dream was interrupted.

_The next morning_

Torch was worried. Micha was missing and the kitchen window in his house was shattered. He thought someone might have broken into his house or something shattered it during the storm, but he noticed a clue that he was mistaken. The glass shards were on the outside meaning someone was breaking out instead of in. Which confused Torch, why would someone break out?

Torch had already checked the inside of his house. Everything else seemed normal, just like he had left it.

Torch was also dead tired. He had been out looking for Micha nearly all night getting only three hours of sleep.

He decided to start asking around for her so he went out to the streets asking anyone that happened to pass by if they had seen a pink dragon named Micha lately. But it seemed as if he had no leads to where she was.

Torch looked everywhere, in the air and on the streets. From building to alleys it seemed as if he was getting nowhere.

Torch was beginning to lose confidence but decided to ask around some more.

Torch was walking down a street with still standing buildings on both sides when he spotted a yellow dragon that was slightly larger than himself.

"Excuse me",Torch called making the dragon looking toward his direction.

"Good morning",the yellow dragon said as he was approached by Torch.

"I'm looking for someone. Female, about my size, she is pink and her name is Micha."

The yellow dragon had a small grin on him as he said, "Yea actually, I saw some pink dragon sleeping in an alley. She looked rough, if you head down this road and take your first right. It will be the second alley on the left."

"Oh thank you very much Torch said as he began heading that way."

"No problem, hope you get it all sorted out."

Torch followed the dragon's directions and took the first right as instructed. He headed down a little ways and spotted the first alley. Heading down a little more ways he spotted a second alley, which he quickly made his way to.

Torch looked down the alley first and spotted a pink dragon laying in the middle of it. Torch ran to her and immediately began shaking her shoulder.

"Micha, Micha wake up!"

The dragon stirred as she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was an odd smell, then she noticed Torch.

"Torch!",she cried as she wrapped her arms around him.

Torch went with the flow before asking her, "What are you doing here? I've been worried."

Micha shook her head, "I went home and . . . there's something wrong with our house."

Torch cocked an eye, "What do you mean exactly?"

Micha took a deep breath as she remembered the horrible moments she went through. Micha stood up to her feet then began, "This is going to sound crazy but, I was going home when I noticed the smoke rising from the chimney. I knew you weren't home yet so I thought someone else was inside. When I was inside, weird things started happening."

"How so?",Torch interrupted.

Micha continued, "Well first thing was that there wasn't a fire in the fireplace, then the rocking chair was rocking by itself. I began to make my way upstairs when a ball suddenly began bouncing down the stairs. But the ball wasn't making any noise at all. When I was upstairs I began checking the rooms. In the last room was some black dragon. As I went to grab him, my arms just . . . fell through the dragon as if I was trying to grab air. Then I noticed the dragon had vanished. I ran downstairs and I noticed that all the rocking chairs were rocking by themselves."

"That is strange",Torch said.

"I went to stop the chairs from rocking but they wouldn't stop no matter how hard I tried to stop them. Then I started to hear noises, but the noise was like someone mumbling or something in a deep voice. The mumbling grew louder then changed into a sudden scream. I ran for the kitchen door as the screaming continued when suddenly the table just snapped for no reason and the cabinets were opening and closing. When I went to open the door, the handle wouldn't turn."

"So you broke through the window?",Torch finished.

Micha nodded and continued with a troubled voice, "Before I broke out, I saw the living room. The walls were melting along with the paintings and the room was beginning to fill with blood. But I saw something on the wall in the kitchen. Like writing."

"What did it say?"

Micha paused trying to remember what it said. When she remembered she replied, "It said 'Manir fel ma sal gresinsha' or something like that."

Torch stayed silent as he soaked in the crazy information he was given.

Micha continued, "I know it sounds crazy but you have to believe me."

"I do believe you",Torch replied.

"You do?",Micha said in surprise.

"Well, I don't see why you would break a window to escape from something for no reason. Your story is crazy but I believe it." Then Torch noticed a cut on her side. "What happened there?", Torch pointed.

Micha looked then answered, "Oh, I guess that happened when I jumped out the window but I'm not sure."

Torch looked at the cut long enough to know it wasn't serious or anything close.

Micha really didn't know what happened last night, but she returned home with Torch nevertheless. She wasn't sure about it at first but she didn't really have any other choice. Where else would she live? The streets wouldn't do.

During the way Micha wondered where all the other dragons were living until their homes were repaired. She had the thought that maybe they bunked in with their friends or family. But what about the dragons who didn't have those precious things? She roamed through all these thoughts as they headed back home.

When they arrived, Micha first looked at the broken window. She hesitated before going inside, but when she gathered the courage, she closely followed Torch.

Everything was normal, the walls, the paintings, the table that broke in half was fine, and everything was as it should be.

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo's breakfast was delicious but he didn't eat much. It consisted of mostly eggs and ham but he was fine with it. He washed it all down with milk. It didn't taste like the milk he was used to, it was actually a bit better.

Cosmo often thought of how the dragons obtained all their resources while he ate but soon after those thoughts left him. He was beginning to get used to being a dragon. But there was one problem with his dragon form, he couldn't breathe fire. He tried a few times but nothing ever came out.

Cosmo spent the day roaming the streets, learning more about the ways of a dragon by observing other dragons. On his travels he spotted many dragons already getting to work repairing the damages from the tornado, the war, or both.

Cosmo kept asking himself questions seeing there was no one beside him to answer them like he was used to. He just couldn't get over Kaida's death. He constantly looked beside him like he was used to to see the silver dragon smile in return. He missed her. He only knew her for a few days, but it was the best days of his life.

Lunch time came and went. Cosmo happened to pass by that restaurant that he and Kaida had lunch with Spyro and Cynder. He imagined the four of them, sitting at the table, chatting and laughing with one another.

But he shook his head clear of the thoughts. He knew he had to let Kaida go, otherwise the memories would haunt him forever. But that was the greatest challenge he had so far. Letting it go.

_Earlier_

The time was a bit before eleven a.m. Cynder was cleaning up the house a bit praying Kantel wouldn't come looking for her to do work. She liked to help, but Kantel pushed mainly her for a reason she didn't know.

Spyro was around, somewhere at least. He walked off from Cynder without her even noticing but she knew he was still around the house. He wouldn't leave without saying anything.

While she was cleaning out the closet she had to move the egg. It was sitting peacefully on top of a pillow. Instead of calling for Spyro, she just carefully picked up the pillow the egg was on top of and moved it that way without touching the egg. She didn't pick it up that far, just enough so the pillow wouldn't be dragon so in case the egg fell, it wouldn't crack. The thought made Cynder shiver, she didn't want to be responsible for breaking such an important item.

Cynder was wondering when the egg was going to actually hatch. She only had it for a few days but it felt like weeks. She didn't know if she was ready to be a mother figure. That's even if she can touch the dragon that comes out of it.

Cynder walked back into the small living room and began tidying it up. Then she came across the music box Cosmo left. She picked it up and set it aside while she cleaned the stool off from dust and old books.

When she finished, she picked up the music box she set down and examined it before putting it back on the stool. She looked at it carefully to avoid missing a feature of it. She noticed the top of the box was actually a lid the whole time. She thought about putting it down but she was curious on what was inside. Cynder looked around the room, then opened the box.

The box began playing a melody Cynder never heard before. She sat down on the couch as she listened to it. It sounded sad at first but the melody was filling Cynder with happiness, which was strange. The melody continued for a minute and half before it clicked to a stop.

Cynder's mood was suddenly changed to one of happiness. Cynder closed the box and put it back on the stool where it belonged then sat back on the couch in relaxation.

"Cynder."

Cynder looked behind her and it was Spyro with a grin. Spyro walked around the couch and sat down beside Cynder.

"Hey Spyro",Cynder said as she sat back again.

"So what did you think?",Spyro asked as he was looking at the music box. He didn't touch it, he was just looking.

"Of what, the melody?"

"Yes, Cosmo's music box."

When he said Cosmo's box it made Cynder feel guilty of invading his privacy. "It was, different than what I was expecting."

"It is",Spyro replied. "It makes a dragon feel happy when he's feeling down. Or that's how it feels since I already listened to it twice." Spyro looked back at Cynder. "You know what a wise dragon once told me?"

Cynder looked back at Spyro, "What?"

"A dragon once told me, curiosity kills."

Cynder smirked, "And a dragon once told me that it depends on how deep you go."

"Ah, so you do take my advice",Spyro replied as he sat with his back against the couch cushions.

Cynder let out a small laugh, "Sometimes I do."

"Sometimes?"

Cynder responded with a silent grin and she looked back at the music box.

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo watched the dragons pass by on the streets as he sat by a table in front of Lateef's restaurant. In was the same table he sat by the last time he was there. The table had a couple more scratches and small dents across the top than last time. There were even a few tables missing along with chairs making dragons take their food along with them instead of trying to find an empty place to sit.

As Cosmo sat someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me",the voice sounded female.

Cosmo turned and looked at the dragoness. She was blue scaled with purple wings and a purple underbelly.

"Yes?",Cosmo asked.

"I'm sorry but I was told to tell you that you had to either order something or leave."

The words hit Cosmo but he stood up anyways, "No, it's me who should apologize."

The dragoness shrugged, "Well, it's okay. Not meaning to intrude but I was watching you. I seen that face a thousand times."

Cosmo remained silent as he looked down letting the dragoness continue. "Did you lose something?"

"Yes, you could say that."

"You know what I mean don't you?"

Cosmo looked up at the strange dragoness and noticed her dark blue eyes were sparkling. Her horns were straight as they should be for female dragons.

The dragoness looked back at the restaurant carefully then looked back at Cosmo, "Walk with me."

Cosmo looked up at the dragoness and for some reason, he did what he was told.

_The School_

Cyline sighed. But it was more of a good sigh. He was glad the tornado never hit the school. In fact, it seemed the tornado went around it.

Cyline walked inside and heard some conversation going on down the hall.

"You fetid effigy, your demeanor lately is nothing but a perplexity."

"Well, Volteer, my paleolithic friend. I was only being frivolous but since you want to be so daunting",Kantel responded.

"Daunting? I'll show you daunting when I-"

"Guys just shut up",Cyline interrupted as turned the corner. "I hate it when you have your verbose battles its so-"

"Guile?",Volteer interrupted with a smile.

"I was going to say esoteric",Kantel added.

"Both of you are uncanny if you ask me",Cyline replied. "It's proverbial that Volteer knows big words but I wouldn't have known that fastidious dragon such as Kantel did."

"Fine", Volteer replied. "Maybe we should confabulate later when Cyline isn't here to cause a quarrel."

"I don't cause them",Cyline said. "It's dumb when I can hardly understand what you're saying."

Volteer smiled then began his walk down the hall. Cyline heard him say one more thing as he walked outside, "My, it's not as opaque as I thought it was. Maybe I'll go take a walk instead of returning to my sanctum."

Cyline shook his head, "Idiots."

"No you",Kantel quickly replied.

"Shut up Kantel, stop acting childish and hand me that bucket",Cyline pointed down the hall a little ways.

"Cynder!",Kantel yelled down the hall. "Come get this bucket."

"Cynder isn't here you mindless idiot. Stop being lazy and go get it."

"Where is she?",Kantel asked as he sighed and began walking toward the bucket.

Cyline was quiet until he returned with the bucket. "Volteer made her take a few days off remember? Mainly because of you." Kantel remained silent as Cyline continued. "Why do you push her so much?"

"I don't",Kantel quickly said.

"Sure you don't, that's why she isn't here right now right? That's why she gets up the sun rises just to keep from yelling at her."

Kantel said nothing as Cyline dug through the bucket, grabbed a handful of nails, grabbed an object Cyline used to bash the nails in the wall and began to go to work.


	13. Targeted

I may be able to update a little more frequently now instead of every 1 to 3 weeks. Bad news is this is the end of the week meaning this will be my last update for a little while. Notice I said "may". Enjoy the chapter, thanks for reviewing!

Chapter 13

Targeted

Cosmo looked around his surroundings. He was with some blue female dragon that evidently knew something about Kaida. However, as they walked, the number of dragons slowly began to thin up. The streets were a little crowded at first, but later on, there wasn't hardly another dragon in sight.

Cosmo had no idea where he was going, but he was beginning to feel nervous. The more they walked, the more uneasy Cosmo became.

Cosmo asked the dragoness where they were going, more than once. The blue dragoness said nothing though she usually responded by just looking at his eyes and back to the street. The dragoness wasn't actually half bad looking either, which was why it made Cosmo more uneasy.

Finally, around twenty minutes later, the Cosmo was led into an alley, one of which wasn't used much, if at all. They continued walking a few more steps until the dragoness stopped and turned around to look at Cosmo.

"So, what exactly are we doing here?",Cosmo asked as he sat down onto the uncomfortable cement.

"I want something", the dragoness simply responded.

"Want something? But, I've got nothing to give. I think you got the wrong dragon."

The dragoness grinned, "No, I got the right dragon."

"What do you want?",Cosmo asked.

Suddenly the dragoness pounced on top of Cosmo. Cosmo had no time to react and was trapped under the dragoness.

"I want you",the dragoness smiled.

"Woah, woah what do you mean?",Cosmo uneasily replied.

The dragoness said nothing, but acted instead by locking her lips against Cosmo's. Cosmo's eyes widened as he pushed her away.

"What are you doing?",Cosmo exclaimed in shock.

"I'm getting what I want, so stay still and stop squirming",she simply said as she shifted her body on top of Cosmo's.

"Wait!",Cosmo shouted.

The dragoness looked back at Cosmo's eyes, "What?"

"When is mating season start?",Cosmo slurred.

"You mean when does it start?"

Cosmo said nothing as he struggled to free himself.

The dragoness continued, "Not anytime soon."

Cosmo managed a reply as he struggled, "So why are you? Trying to . . . uh you know."

"Mate?",the dragoness replied.

Cosmo gulped at that word, "Yes unfortunately."

The dragoness said nothing but only smiled. Cosmo looked at her and could tell, she was hesitating to do something but he hoped it wasn't what he was thinking.

Then everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for Cosmo. The dragoness began moving her arm and was clutching something. As she brought her arm around Cosmo realized what it was. He quickly brought his arms up and grabbed the dragoness wrists with a large knife only inches away from his face.

Cosmo struggled as the dragoness brought were other arm on top the knife making things worse. It was either do or die, Cosmo didn't want to hurt the dragoness at first, but knew he had no choice. Using his strength ability, he easily overcame the dragoness's strength and managed to fling the knife a few feet away.

The dragoness used her free paw and extended her claws and swiped Cosmo on his left cheek leaving a bloody trailmark. The dragoness began to get off of Cosmo before kicking him in the gut to make sure he would stay down while she retrieved the weapon.

Cosmo was in pain but knew she was coming back. He forced himself up. As he did, the dragoness threw knife, turning it into a projectile, at Cosmo's head. Cosmo threw his head to the side, missing the knife by mere centimeters. The dragoness growled in reaction.

"Why are you doing this?",Cosmo asked.

"I'm sorry but I have no choice. You must cease to exist", the female dragoness simply replied.

Knowing she wasn't going to talk, Cosmo was going to go on offense but the dragoness charged. Cosmo saw the horns, and leaped over the dragoness and landed behind her. Before she could turn around Cosmo tackled the dragoness to the ground.

She was eating cement as Cosmo clawed the side of her cheek.

"Doesn't feel good does it?",Cosmo mocked.

He was about the claw her again but she rolled Cosmo off and leaped to her feet. The dragoness was the first to stand and she quickly took advantage of the opportunity and attacked while Cosmo was getting up. She threw one of her paws at Cosmo, claws extended. Cosmo evaded by pulling off a parry, he rolled around the dragoness to evade the blow, and before she realized what he was up to, he flat out punched the dragoness in the gut, knocking the breath out of her.

She was dazed for a brief moment but threw a punch at Cosmo. He managed to block it using his arm as a shield and the two of them skillfully exchanged blows. Some missed, some was blocked, and some hit.

Cosmo blocked a punch and was caught off guard for a moment by the dragoness's other fist. Cosmo blocked it as well and the two of them were in a fight over power as their paws locked against each other.

Cosmo would have easily won, but the dragoness wanted that to happen. The dragoness unleashed a shadow fire onto Cosmo making Cosmo fall to the ground in pain.

The dragoness quickly retrieved the knife that was on the ground and smiled as she jumped on top of Cosmo again, this time with the advantage of Cosmo being fatigued and hurt.

Cosmo was beginning to panic but surprisingly, the dragoness put her lips against his again. Cosmo tried to get her to stop but she wouldn't.

Afterwards, she leaned in closer to him and simply said, "I'm sorry."

There was something about the dragoness Cosmo didn't get but it wouldn't matter soon. Cosmo would be a lifeless body in a few minutes.

As she reared the knife, Cosmo struggled but to no avail. The shadow element did him in and he was too weak. Blood from the scratch on his wound was running to his eyes making them water. Cosmo's thoughts were mainly one, one of Kaida. Cosmo closed his eyes as the dragoness lunged the dagger.

Then Cosmo heard a _ting_ sound. He opened his eyes and the dragoness no longer clutched the knife. Cosmo looked around from under the dragoness and spotted someone, or something in the distance down the alley. On more observation he noticed an arrow laying beside him.

The dragoness quickly stood up to her feet, spread her purple wings, and take off into the sky.

Cosmo slowly rose to his feet and looked down the alley again. The figure was gone. Whoever saved him, Cosmo was thankful for whoever saved him. He looked down at the ground, spotted the arrow, and picked it up to examine it.

It was pretty simple looking, iron head and it was made of durable yet flexible wood.

Cosmo looked around the alley and put and paw on the side of his head. He looked at his paw and saw blood. His chest hurt when she kicked him and his vision was a little blurred from the blood getting in his eyes.

Cosmo couldn't help but to look up in the skies. He saw nothing other than a few clouds.

He began heading back out of the alley, amazed on how easy he was to trick. Cosmo was going to be sure to be more carefully, especially since someone wanted him dead.

As Cosmo left the alley the same way he came in. As he turned, a gray dragon was there. The dragon double-taked to realized Cosmo was hurt.

"Hey! Buddy you okay?",the dragon exclaimed as he ran over to him.

Cosmo almost stumbled to the ground, "Yea, I think so."

"What happened to you?"

"I was attacked",Cosmo managed.

"By who?" The gray dragon was mainly focused on the large scratch mark across Cosmo's cheek.

"I, don't know who it was."

"Well, that doesn't matter right now. I gotta get you to a hospital."

"No",Cosmo objected. "No hospitals, I'll be fine."

"Well, can I at least make sure you get home safely?"

Cosmo sighed, "If that is your choice."

The two of them walked down the street, until Cosmo decided to fly to avoid all of the crowds. The skies were pretty clear of dragons, except for a three group dragon that passed by. Cosmo knew they were looking at him but he urged onwards. He was headed for the only place he could go for the moment.

The trip was mostly quiet, the gray dragon didn't introduce himself which made Cosmo nervous yet again. He was thinking this dragon was out to kill him as well, but the thought came to him that he would have done it when he came out the alley.

Or was he waiting?

It didn't matter as Cosmo flew down on the street of Spyro and Cynder's home. Taking safety measures Cosmo dismissed his escort before walking to Spyro and Cynder's. He didn't want everyone to know where he was living at the moment. It was a long street so if someone did start looking it would take him a while.

Cosmo waited until the gray dragon was out of sight before he began his walk though. When he arrived a few minutes later, he knocked on the door first, just in case.

Cosmo heard footsteps and the door opened to reveal Cynder.

Cynder gasped, "Cosmo? What happened?" She quickly stepped to the side allowing Cosmo in. Cosmo slowly made his way inside.

"I was . . . attacked by someone."

"Attacked?",Spyro said as he suddenly came into view from the kitchen. Spyro quickly paced over to Cosmo. "By who?"

"I'm not sure. But she blew some dark smoke on me that drained my energy", Cosmo answered as he sat down on the couch holding his chest.

"Dark smoke?",Cynder repeated. "You mean she knew something things about the shadow element?"

"Yeah",Cosmo replied not knowing what else to say.

"What did she look like?",Cynder asked as Spyro grabbed a towel and made his way into the kitchen. Cosmo was silent remembering the dragons features when Spyro came back in. He was holding wet towel and handed it to Cosmo.

"She had blue scales and she had purple wings and a purple belly. Her eyes were blue and she knew her stuff when it came to fighting."

"So what happened to her?",Spyro asked.

Cosmo shrugged as he wiped the blood off his cheek with the wet towel. It stung a bit at first but then it was relieving. "Not sure where she went, she said she had to kill me for some reason I don't know. She almost succeeded."

"Right, we should tell the officials about this dragon. Have them put a bounty on her head",Cynder began.

"No",Cosmo said. "She will be back anyways. While I was battling with her, she always hesitated. She had plenty of times to kill me but, she never did."

"Meaning?",Cynder began.

"I think that she didn't want to kill me."

"But she almost did!",Cynder remarkably replied.

"I know, but next time, I'll be ready."

But the truth was, he wasn't ready. He still couldn't breathe any type of element yet and was a bit embarrassed of it. He may have a bit of skills with hand to hand but everything else, he just got lucky.

_Meanwhile_

Micha was sitting on the couch, staring into the fireplace. It wasn't burning but she was thinking. Whenever Torch was around it made her comfortable being in the house, but Torch was outside for the moment.

Micha's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a noise upstairs. She immediately thought of the black dragon she saw and hesitated to go upstairs. But what happened last night never really happened. Was it just in her head?

Then Micha heard a door open, someone come in, then she heard it shut.

"Micha! Your little garden needs to be watered!"

"Torch! Come here!"

Torch did what he was told and made his way into the living room where he saw Micha staring at the stairs.

"What's up?",Torch asked.

"Noises",Micha answered. "Listen."

Torch listened. Seconds passed and Torch heard nothing. Then a minute passed.

"I don't hear anything."

By the time Torch finished there was a loud _thump_ from upstairs.

"What was that?",Torch couldn't help but ask.

"That",Micha began. "Was the black dragon from upstairs." Then Micha began walking toward the stairs. "Come on."

"Great",Torch muttered.

The two of them slowly made their way up the stairs and turned the two lefts to be looking down the hallway. Instead of checking each room like Micha did last time, she went straight to the last one and peered inside. There wasn't anything in the room, at least not anything unusual. Micha walked in the room and slowly looked around. Torch right behind her.

"Alright",Micha said. "Show yourself, I know you're here."

Torch looked around the room. Nothing ever happened that seemed of interest. Torch made his way over to the window straight ahead and looked out into the streets. There were a few dragons on it with two dragons conversing with each other on the side. Micha was busy looking in the closet when Torch turned around. And there he was, blocking the doorway. It was a black dragon.

"Uh Micha, y- you should probably take a look",Torch said with a calm voice.

"What is it?",Micha asked as she exited the closet. She saw Torch was looking, no staring at something. She looked, and grew wide-eyed.

The black dragon was looking dead at Torch, but when Micha showed herself, the black dragon began staring at her.

Micha was speechless at first but gathered the courage to ask, "Who are you and what are you doing here in our home?"

The black dragon said nothing as it disappeared from existence. Micha sighed.

"What do you mean your home?"

Micha turned to her right and the black dragon was still with her. The black dragon sounded as if he was nothing but a child.

"Yes, this is our home and I was wondering on what you are doing here?"

The black dragon looked around, "This is my room, do you like it?"

A few seconds passed before Micha answered, "I do like it, so this was your room? Was it you who scared me out last night?"

The black dragon looked down, "Yea, I'm sorry. I was trying to show you something."

Micha slowly stepped closer to the dragon. Torch was frozen in place. "What did you try to show me."

The black dragon stayed silent this time before vanishing out of sight. Micha looked around the room. No sight of him.

"Come back!",Micha exclaimed. "I must know!"

But the dark dragon never appeared. Micha sighed as she looked at Torch. He seemed to be in shock, "You okay Torch."

Torch came to his senses, "Yeah, yeah I'll be fine. You know, just saw a ghost and you were talking to it. I'm cool with that."

"He",Micha said as she headed for the door. "The dragon is a he."

"Whatever",Torch responded as he followed Micha out into the hall. "But we still don't know why he is here. Has he been here the whole time? Watching us and just now decided to show himself? Is our house haunted? So many questions Micha that are unanswered."

"I know",she replied as she walked down the stairs. "I'll be sure to ask him next time he shows himself."

"That's if he shows himself again",Torch added.

The two of them made their way into the kitchen. Micha smirked, "He'll be back."

Micha went outside to water her garden in the back while Torch remained inside, eating some meat on the table. He spread some spices on the cooked meat before taking bites into it.

_Meanwhile_

Spyro heard a knock on the door so he answered since he was the closest. A brown scaled dragon stood there with something in his paw.

"Can I help you?".Spyro asked.

The dragon handed over what he was holding and said, "I'm sorry for your loss", then left. Simple as that.

Spyro looked at what was given to him. It was a piece of paper with writing on it.

Spyro closed the door as he read it, Cynder trying to budge in during the process. When he finished, he simply handed it over to Cosmo, who was still sitting on the couch recovering from his wounds. Cosmo began to read it

**Dear sir or madam,**

** First, we want to tell you how sorry we are for the loss of Kaida the dragoness. She was a fine and kind dragon.**

** Her funeral will be held at Whiteoak Cemetery at 3p.m. The date is set for tomorrow but it will be postponed to the next day, same time if it rains. **

** You may come to say some words on her behalf or to give respect toward her. Again, we are sorry for your loss.**

The words ended making Cosmo think back through all the things the two of them went through during the short friendship they had. Kaida showing him around the city, the embarrassing conversation they had about mating season, the time when Kaida served him lamb for the first time, even the time when he was chasing after the dark figure popped into his head.

Cosmo laid the paper outside and soundlessly walked outside, leaving Spyro and Cynder behind. Cosmo wasn't going anywhere, he just stepped outside for something told him to. He looked up into the sky watching the clouds pass by.

"Kaida",Cosmo said to himself.

Suddenly Cosmo thought he heard something. He looked around then shook it off.

"_Cosmo_."

Again, there it was again. Cosmo looked around again, there was nothing. Cosmo looked back into the sky thinking he was imagining it.

"_Cosmo_."

He heard it clearer this time, but there was no one around him.

"Yes?",Cosmo replied not knowing what else to do for the moment.

"_Cosmo, it's me._"

The Cosmo realized, the voice was in his head and he recognized it.

"_Kaida?_"

"_Yes Cosmo, it's me._"

"_Kaida, it feels like its been ages_."

It sounded like Kaida giggled to the reply. "_Yes, it has_."

"_I miss you Kaida. I wish you would come back._"

"_I miss you too but we both know that isn't possible. I wish it were._"

"_Kaida, I feel like I'm lost. You're the only one who knew about me, who trusted me and showed me kindness. I still don't know much about being a dragon._"

"_You know more than you think Cosmo._"

"_But I was attacked today. I almost lost if it wasn't for that figure with the bow._"

"_I know, I was keeping a close eye on you during that time._"

"_Do you know why she attacked me?_"

Cosmo heard silence for a moment before hearing in his head, "_I'm not sure, but I know she isn't as bad as you think she is._"

"_Kaida, I still can't breathe fire or any element_."

"_Yes, but in time, you will. Cosmo, the music box you found._"

"_Was that want you wanted me to have?_"

"_Yes, but there is something about that box you should know about. It's magical. Before you ask me questions on how, I will tell you. I used it when my mother died and I was able to speak with her._"

"_You mean, you could actually talk to your mother after she passed away?_"

"_Yes, it's been passed down my family for generations. So I handed it off to you. If you want to speak with me, just play the music box. But you are never alone Cosmo, I'm always with you no matter what happens. No matter what challenges you go through or however many battles you'll endure."_

Cosmo was silent for a moment before saying, "_Thank you Kaida. It's very comforting to know._"

Everything was silent for another moment before Cosmo heard Kaida again, but more in the fun tone he knew, "_Now don't call me every five minutes_",Kaida giggled.

"_I'll try and not to_",Cosmo smirked.

"_And I better see you at my funeral. Otherwise I'll haunt you._"

"_Actually that would be pretty neat to be haunted by my best friend_."

Kaida was silent then she suddenly laughed, "_It would be wouldn't it?_"

The two of them laughed it out. If a dragon came by and saw Cosmo laughing to himself the dragon would probably begin walking the other way, but at the moment, Cosmo could have cared less.

"_Anyways, if you need me-_"

"_I'll use the music box._"

Cosmo could picture Kaida smiling right then, "_Talk to you later then._"

Then the presence vanished from his mind. Cosmo felt a tear beginning to form, but it was one of more happiness than sadness.

Cosmo walked back inside after a while and sat down on the couch. Spyro and Cynder were in the bedroom doing something that obviously didn't interest Cosmo at the moment. The music box was still in its place on the stool. He picked it up and held it tight, knowing Kaida was only a melody away.


	14. Whiteoak Cemetery

Chapter 14

Whiteoak Cemetery

Torch heard a knock on the door. He yawned and carefully got out of bed so he wouldn't disturb Micha. He didn't bother to see what time it was. He made his way out the room, through the living room and to the kitchen.

He looked at the window as he entered the kitchen. He took the time to board it up before it got completely dark last night so he wouldn't have to worry about burglars.

Torch rubbed his eyes as he opened the door, having the early sun beam down on his face. When Torch's eyes adjusted to the light, a brown scaled dragon came into view.

"Can I help you?",Torch asked.

The brown dragon silently handed over a sheet of paper, bowed, and made his leave.

Torch closed the door, "Jeez talk my ear off why don't you",he sarcastically mumbled.

Torch looked at the paper. He first noticed it was sent by Cosmo, then he read on to learn the time and place where Kaida's funeral would be held. Torch sighed at the thought. He didn't like funerals and had only been to only one in his lifetime.

He walked into the living room, taking notice of the clock on the wall. It read eight o'five. Torch looked into the bedroom to see Micha sleeping in a cute sort of way. He smiled and left her be as he walked back into the kitchen, set the paper on the corner of the shelf, and began cooking a meal.

Later on, Micha was awoken by the smell of something cooking, or maybe burning. Micha rubbed her eyes and removed the covers off of her as she sat up. She looked around a quick moment then walked into the living room. She looked around again for a brief second, then turned right into the kitchen where Torch seemed to be running back and forth.

Micha immediately noticed that there was something on the shelf that was actually burning, in flames even.

"Torch?"

"Micha!",Torch yelped. "I, uh, fire, gotta put it out!"

"You tried cooking again didn't you?",Micha asked with a smirk.

Torch said nothing as he grabbed a bucket and ran outside. Moments later he came back with it filled with water. He reared the bucket back and let the water loose, dousing the flames in an instant.

"Phew",Torch set the bucket down beside him with Micha staring at the blackened, wet, whatever it was supposed to be, on the shelf. "Breakfast is served?"

Micha walked over to the item on the shelf. It looked like steak from the looks of it. She picked it up and squeezed it. It was basically a rock now.

"Well, I guess we could use this as a weapon",Micha smirked.

"Hey!",Torch exclaimed as he grabbed the rock steak and suddenly tried to bite into it. His powerful jaws somehow managed to get a bite off of the steak, but Micha could already see a tear in Torch's eye. Torch swallowed, "Delicious."

"Oh really? Then I guess those are tears of joy?"

Torch rubbed his eyes, "Yes." He looked at the steak with a frown then said, "In fact, I'm going to save some of it for later." Then he set it on the shelf with Micha just a grinning.

_Two hours later_

Cosmo disappeared from the sight of Spyro and Cynder. One minute he was on the couch in their home, the next he was gone. Cynder worried about him often, considering someone was out to get him. Spyro did too but he never showed it. Cynder could tell though, every time she brought up the matter to him Spyro always said that he was going to alright by himself.

She sat on her bed, staring in the closet at the black egg that had yet to hatch. She always wondered how this dragon was going to be so different. But patience would only answer that question.

Then Spyro entered the room.

"Knock knock",said Spyro.

"Hey",Cynder replied. Spyro stopped beside her and eyed what she was looking at. He walked over to the closet, slowly picked up the egg, then set it on the bed.

"Wonder when it's going to hatch",Spyro said as he dazed at the egg.

"I wondered that myself",Cynder replied.

"What's going to hatch?",Cosmo asked as he suddenly appeared. He noticed the black egg on the bed.

"Cosmo, where did you come from?",Spyro asked as he grabbed the egg.

"Don't worry you two, I won't tell",Cosmo assured.

Spyro and Cynder exchanged soleful glances.

"I just want to take a look at it",Cosmo said as he walked closer toward the two.

Spyro was motionless for a moment, then he set the egg on the bed for Cosmo to see.

"Before you get any ideas, we found the egg",Cynder blushed.

"Found it?",Cosmo frowned.

"Aye, well",Spyro began. "It, fell."

"Fell?"

"It fell from the sky",Spyro finished.

Cosmo sat for a moment before answering, "Ah, that . . . that makes, sense."

Spyro shook his head, "No, it doesn't." Spyro looked around a piece of paper on top the dresser. He went and retrieved it and handed it over to Cosmo.

Cosmo looked at it then read, "Spyro is sweet, smart, and sexy. I'm glad that I am-"

"What the?",Cynder barked as she grabbed the paper. "That's something you're not supposed to see!"

Cosmo flinched, "Well I assumed I was supposed to read it."

Cynder walked over to the dresser and opened one of the drawers, threw the paper she had and retrieved another one. She closed the drawer and handed the paper to Cosmo.

"Sorry Cynder",Spyro apologized.

"Just watch what you pick up next time",Cynder sighed.

Cosmo silently read the paper as Spyro smirked, "So you think I'm sexy?"

"Not with that stupid look on your face."

"Oh",Spyro stood in a heroic looking pose. "How about now?"

"Now you just look stupid",Cynder inquired.

When Cosmo finished the letter he gave it back to Spyro and looked at the egg that still sat on the bed.

"May I?",Cosmo asked as he reached for the egg.

"May you what?",Spyro asked then noticed Cosmo was holding the egg. He turned it looking at the whole thing then slowly set it back down on the bed where it was.

Cynder said nothing as Spyro said, "Well, at least we know you can hold the egg."

"Of course I can",Cosmo indicated. "Hey, there was something I've been wanting to ask you."

"Go ahead then",Spyro solemnly said.

"I was wondering, before Kaida died, she told me something about a war that happened recently. I was wondering if you could tell me about it."

Spyro's eyes narrowed, "Well, I can explain most of it I guess."

Cosmo sat down on the floor while Cynder shifted positions.

Spyro began, "I'll make things short. It all started when a dragon named Malefor had a thirst for power. While me and Cynder made our way to his lair, a battle was happening right here, in the city of Warfang. Me and Cynder eventually made it to Malefor, where we were able to defeat him. When he was defeated, his army vanished and things were peaceful."

Spyro sighed then continued, "Until another army showed up, we didn't know where they came from, but they did more damage to the city than Malefor's army. This new army, called themselves humans. We were able to drive them off and they haven't been seen since."

Spyro stopped for a moment then continued, "There were also four guardians of the elements, fire, electricity, ice, and earth. During this battle, three guardians fell and only one remains in the city."

Cosmo suddenly spotted a sign of anger in Spyro. He wondered if he should have stopped him from continuing but Spyro continued, "The fire guardian, Ignitus, was the closest thing I had to a father. And those animals killed him along with his brothers. I swore if I had ever seen another human again, I would kill him without mercy for what they had done to me."

Cosmo swallowed hard at the thought, "Alright Spyro, you can stop I've heard enough."

Spyro stammered, "I'm sorry if I seemed-"

"It's alright Spyro",Cosmo interrupted. "If anything, I should apologize for making you tell such a story."

"You didn't make me",Spyro assured.

Cosmo left the room saying no more, a little frightened actually. Spyro didn't know on what Cosmo actually was. If Spyro learned of Cosmo's identity, there wasn't any telling of what Spyro would have done. So Cosmo left the house.

Cosmo roamed the streets as he waited for three o'clock to come. As he did many dragons seemed to stare at him making him feel uncomfortable. He knew he was attracting attention because of what that blue female did to his cheek.

Cosmo passed by a few interesting looking sites. He passed by a market, avoiding eye contact from the shopkeepers. The market was crowded with other dragons so it was pretty easy for him to slip by. Cosmo stopped for a short moment to watch the shopkeepers do business though and learned how they could make a sale for something like jewelry. It was pretty typical though. The shopkeeper would show the dragon a collection of jewelry and when the dragon tried it on the shopkeeper was always encourage the dragon that it looked good on her. Most of the time it worked but the more intelligent dragons were the ones that realized the ruse and walked away.

Cosmo continued onward on the street. The crowds began to thin up as he progressed but Cosmo didn't think much about it. Before he knew it the crowds were coming back as he neared some other attraction that still stood. He found himself entering a large square with a working fountain in the middle of it with flowers planted all around it, grass circled the fountain. There were benches all around the fountain and also at the edge of the square every few yards or so. The square wasn't as crowded as the market but there was still a good number of dragons surrounding Cosmo.

Cosmo continued his walk and headed west from the square to a large clock tower in the distance. He had already seen it before but he wanted to get a look up close to it. When he was close enough, he read the time. It read twelve thirty eight.

Time was certainly moving by fast so Cosmo hurried on to his last destination before heading to the Whiteoak Cemetery. Wherever that was, he didn't really know.

When he arrived at the clock tower, to realize that the clock tower was being repaired. But the clock itself still worked but the outside structure received some damages. So Cosmo quickly left to leave the construction workers their room.

He turned back the way he came and headed back to the square. When he arrived, he began asking dragons in it where he could find Whiteoak Cemetery.

"Not from around here are you?",a dark green dragon laughed when Cosmo asked.

"Not exactly",Cosmo replied.

The dragon couldn't help but notice the scratch marks on Cosmo's cheek but answered, "It's about an hour walk, but you could make it in fifteen minutes if you fly, depending on wind direction of course. If you head north northeast, you'll eventually come up upon a group of trees in the city with a street surrounding the trees."

"And that is Whiteoak Cemetery?",Cosmo finished.

"Yea",the dragon shuddered to a sudden cold breeze.

"Thank you",Cosmo smiled as he made his leave.

Cosmo flew this time to avoid any crowds and because it was obviously quicker. Cosmo was beginning to like the flying, he didn't at first but now, just feeling the cool breeze on his face in the skies above the world made him feel happy in some way. The wind wasn't blowing against him, but it wasn't blowing with him either. He was sort of being blown from his side making it a bit tougher for Cosmo to fly, considering he wasn't used to it quite yet.

Flying by tall buildings and a flock of sparrows, Cosmo arrived at his destination early. Too early in fact for no one was in the cemetery. An irrie feeling crept through Cosmo has he walked through the cemetery. He didn't like them all that much.

The reason he was there so early was because he wanted to be the first one to pay his respects to his parted friend. So he curled up under a tree for shade, then he fell asleep to the sound of birds and the gentle rustling of the trees as the wind blew.

_A Little Later_

He felt it, a presence somewhere nearby. Torch stood up off the couch and looked behind him. He thought it was going to be the black dragon he saw before, but it was nothing.

"What is it Torch?",Micha asked as she appeared in the room from her bedroom.

"Thought I heard something",Torch replied as he sat back down.

"Maybe you're being a little too paranoid about this ghost thing."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll just forget about our house, being haunted by someone who not only used to live here but scared you through a window",Torch said with clear sarcasm.

"He was trying to show me something for one",Micha replied. "Now come on, we have a funeral to attend."

Torch quickly stood to his feet, "Gah, I forgot about that!"

"How? You read the paper only hours ago and, you know what nevermind."

"Oh well",Torch looked at the clock. "It's only one thirty do we really have to leave so early?"

"Yes",Micha slightly nodded.

"Alright fine",Torch gave in. "But can I have something to eat before we go?"

"How about that steak you cooked this morning?",Micha quipped as she entered the kitchen.

"You know what, I can wait."

_Meanwhile_

A figure was walking in the Whiteoak Cemetery. The character noticed a yellow dragon sleeping under a tree but ignored him as he continued walking down the path, his footsteps ever so silent.

Then he reached a little setup, chairs were neatly placed in a line, the path was now cleared of any debris and leaves, and a casket was resting beside a dug out hole. The figure noticed the headstone in front of the hole. He only read the name "Kaida" before looking back at the casket. He placed his hand on the casket and mumbled some words before turning around. To his astonishment, a yellow dragon stood in his way, the same yellow dragon he caught sleeping under the tree.

"Who are you?",Cosmo asked as he looked at the figure from up to down.

He was tall, whoever he was, and he was wearing a black cloak around him to conceal his identity. There was something on his back but the cloak protected it.

The character stayed silent but turned back around to face the casket. Cosmo slowly approached him from behind and stopped a few feet away, unsure if this was another trick, or just a strange character.

"Well?",Cosmo began. "Who are you?"

"Someone who saved your life",the character responded. His voice was a little on the deep side. He was still looking at the casket. "I'm not here to cause trouble, only here to respect the dead."

Cosmo was relieved to hear those words. He walked beside the tall cloaked character to the casket. He looked at the headstone and noticed this was Kaida's casket.

"It's hard to lose a friend",Cosmo said.

"Indeed, you're right there."

Cosmo was silent, trying to study the one of whom he was conversing with. He didn't see much, the cloak covered too much.

"_What if this guy is a criminal and he is trying to hide his identity?_",Cosmo thought. But his thoughts quickly returned to what the character said earlier.

"Question",Cosmo asked. The figure stayed silent so Cosmo went ahead, "Were you the one who saved me in the alley?"

The character stayed silent though, not hardly even moving.

"At least tell me your name",Cosmo sighed.

The character looked at Cosmo, all Cosmo could see was his eyes. Some sort of cloth was covering the rest of his face. "I have to get going."

Cosmo frowned as the character walked by him and down the path. "Well, bye?"

The character stopped for a moment then said, "You may call me, Frederick."

Frederick began walking away and Cosmo noticed something, Frederick wasn't a dragon. The way he was walking, how much taller he was. Cosmo felt stupid for not thinking of it before. He was taller because he was standing on two legs. He should have known immediately when he saw Frederick's hand on Kaida's casket, he had five fingers. Frederick must have had a sword on his back from what Cosmo could tell. Frederick, was a human.

When Cosmo was by himself, he turned to Kaida's casket. He put a paw on the casket and closed his eyes.

"Well, Kaida when I first met you, it was in the forest. At first, I was frightened, but you comforted me during that time."

Cosmo chuckled, "You even seemed a bit funny which made me feel even better during that time. When I needed a place to stay, you provided. You understood my problems and helped me progress through them in every way you could. You helped me learn to fly, you showed me around the city and told me about it in the process."

Cosmo sighed, "But I didn't know the little time we had. I know it sounds weird but you were like a sister to me."

Cosmo wiped his eye clean of a coming tear, "If I could go back to where we met in the forest, I would and relive them all over again. I'm sure you already know this but, I'm glad that I met you in the forest. If it were someone else I'm sure my dragon life would have been more confusing and less interesting. I just want to say that, I'm sorry that this happened to you Kaida. You didn't deserve such a fate."

Cosmo sat for a few silent moments before he stood up and wiped his eyes of tears. Cosmo turned around and walked back down the path before the dragons in charge of the funeral came back. So he took his spot back from under the tree, and laid there in wait.

_Later_

When the funeral finally began Cosmo sat on the front seat with Spyro and Cynder. Torch and Micha were on the other side of the path and a group of dragons were behind, paying their respects.

When the time came to say some things on Kaida's behalf, Cosmo was the first one up. He mostly repeated the same things he said earlier, leaving out some of the parts he didn't want them to know. When Cosmo finished, Spyro came up to say some things.

"The way me and Cynder met Cosmo and Kaida was a bit of a strange encounter, but it was a great friendship. Kaida was one of the nicest, most generous dragons I ever known and I feel bad for not truly getting to know her." Spyro continued his speech as all the other dragons politely listened.

The funeral continued, Torch wanted to say something when Spyro finished his short speech but he didn't know much about Kaida, so he stayed silent.

When it came to finally bury Kaida, Cosmo couldn't watch. He shuddered at the thought as he was dried of tears.

_Later_

Cosmo stood in front of Kaida's grave for a moment before leaning over and placing a pot of fresh flowers in front of her headstone. Cosmo stayed silent for a moment, wondering if Kaida was proud of him. Cosmo did his best so he felt that she was indeed proud of him. He could feel it inside him.

Everyone else was already gone, so he stayed a bit longer knowing that no one was waiting to pay respects. While he was by himself, he planted one goldenrod flower in front of Kaida's headstone. Cosmo was sure that it would have made Kaida happy, for he happened to remember that she told him it was her favorite while Cosmo was learning to fly in the meadow.

When Cosmo decided it was time to leave before the sun began to fall, he began walking down the path to leave the cemetery. When he was about to leave the cemetery, he felt something, or someone was stalking him.

He looked all around him, spotting nothing in the process. He frowned and continued. Then he heard a _crack_, like a stick breaking. Cosmo turned around, again, there was nothing.

Cosmo quickly paced himself onto the street and opened his wings. He was about to leap, until something collided against the back of his head, making him slump to the concrete.

A thick stick was thrown away by a tree as a dragon suddenly appeared out of nowhere, over Cosmo's unconscious body.

"I'm sorry Cosmo",a blue dragoness said.


	15. Kali's Cat

Thanks for the reviews everyone, I appreciate every one, even the ones that tells me of errors in my chapter. Thanks again, enjoy!

Chapter 15

Kali's Cat

Spyro yawned as he laid on the couch. He turned toward the fireplace and watched it. It wasn't lit, but Spyro still watched it. He was in thought for a moment before he sat back up and walked around the room. He peeked through the window for a quick moment, seeing a dragonless street and some mushrooms growing on the side of it. Then Spyro began pacing again.

It had been two hours since Kaida's funeral. The sky had a bit more clouds than earlier and the breeze had its own unique chill to it.

Spyro had the thought of returning to his home, the home he hadn't been to in days before all the events began. But the thoughts of the egg or that mysterious figure returning kept Spyro close to Cynder.

The truth was, he was bit scared that he would return and something would happen to Cynder. Of course, the only reason Cynder would know that is if she figured it out for herself.

Suddenly flashes of memories flooded Spyro's thoughts. Memories of battle, and the terrible price he had to pay. Spyro knew he was lucky to be alive through it. The thoughts began overtaking his mind, making Spyro close his eyes to concentrate on some other thought. However every path led him straight back to thinking on the day it happened.

Suddenly the door opened saving Spyro from his thoughts. He looked up to see Cynder.

"Spyro?",Cynder closed the door on he way in.

"Yeah?"

Cynder walked by Spyro and quickly sat down on the couch. "Nothing, just thought you was out."

"Out?",Spyro replied making his way beside Cynder.

"Like out in the market or something",Cynder answered. "Oh, did you notice how many of the worker moles have been on the streets lately?"

Spyro was quiet for a moment before saying, "You know, I haven't seen any moles recently."

"Yes, well evidently, they fled."

"Fled? From what?",Spyro asked in surprise.

"Strange I know, no one knows where they went. There wasn't any clue whatsoever to their whereabouts. But I have an idea."

Spyro sat down beside Cynder with wonder, "Lay it on me."

"Well, the moles have been helping us with the repairs to the city ever since the war. But from what I've noticed. The moles have actually been missing, even since before the tornado. My guess, is that they knew about the storm and fled. At least, that was the last time I seen one of the moles was the day before the meteor shower, and a mole hasn't been seen since."

Spyro was quiet for a moment then said, "I can't say that didn't make sense."

Cynder frowned, "That's because it does." Cynder then looked around the room and then back at Spyro. "By the way, have you seen Cosmo?"

"Not since the funeral",Spyro yawned.

"Sometimes I really worry about him",Cynder sighed.

"Don't worry",Spyro replied. "He's fine, he's probably just, you know, out."

_Meanwhile_

A sudden pain rushed through the top of Cosmo's head. Before doing anything, he put a paw on his head with a groan.

The ground was cold and hard against Cosmo's belly. He figured out he was laying down, where, he didn't know yet. Cosmo finally opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings.

He was in some sort of holding cell, his was in a corner of a room was bars in front of him and to his right with the stone wall to his left and behind him. There was a pile of hay in the corner behind Cosmo and there were lit torches on the wall every few feet. The room was quite large. There was a small rounded wooden table in front of Cosmo's cell with two wooden chairs beside it. There were barrels grouped on the other end of the room and only one window was seen. But it was boarded up making light impossible to pass through. There were also a few stone columns supporting the roof scattered around the room. It was like Cosmo was in some sort of dungeon.

"_What the heck is going on here? Where am I? What happened to me?_"

Cosmo took it slow on standing up, but once he was up he was pacing around his cell like a mad person. The first thing Cosmo tried to do was to push the bars apart with his strength ability. But they wouldn't budge. Cosmo examined the bars and guessed they were made on some type of titanium. A very strong type of metal.

Second thing Cosmo did was studying his surroundings. Checking if there was some type of fault in the cell or even the wall. He found nothing worth useful.

Lastly, he examined the room itself, checking to see if there were keys to his cell that he could maybe reach somehow. Still nothing, meaning Cosmo was stuck.

A few minutes later, Cosmo sensed something enter the room. He looked across the room to the door. It was open now.

Cosmo backed up to the wall behind him and carefully scanned the area. He spotted nothing. Cosmo was beginning to feel a little worried about himself.

Then something jumped onto the round table in front of him, something small. It wasn't a dragon, or anything harmful. It was cat.

Cosmo cocked an eye as he walked as close as he could to it.

The cat had black fur all over and it had green eyes. It had three black whiskers on both sides of its cheeks and the cat's tail was a little longer than average. The cat was also a she and she was staring blankly back at Cosmo. When the cat turned toward him he noticed a very unusual feature. The cats tail started as one but immediately split into two tails.

"Here kitty",Cosmo called.

"Yea what?"

Cosmo almost fell backwards. "Holy? You can talk?"

The cat looked as if she was smiling, "Why yes of course I can." The cat had a sort of soft female voice to her words.

Cosmo was speechless for a brief moment then asked, "Do you have any idea why I'm here?"

The cat huffed, "Well?"

"What?",Cosmo asked looking puzzled.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you nameless dragon my name is Isis."

Cosmo sighed, "Hello Isis my name is Cosmo. How have you been doing lately?"

"Oh so you're nosy huh",the cat asked as she jumped off the table and sat down on the stone a few inches away from Cosmo's reach.

"Can you just tell me why I'm here?",Cosmo shrugged. Cosmo noticed another feature about the cat he didn't spot before. The cat had some spots on her cheeks that were pink, like freckles. Isis wasn't even all that large either. A little under the average size of a cat.

"Well",Isis the cat began. "Truthfully, I don't know. My master put you in there for some reason I don't know."

"Can you let me out?",Cosmo hopelessly asked.

"Sure",Isis responded.

"Re- really?"

"Yea, that's if you'll save me from my master killing me afterwards and feed me and take care of me."

Cosmo actually considered it for a moment. He had a cat back at home, it wasn't black and it definitely didn't talk but Cosmo would make an exception. Especially as he looked at the cat's small green eyes.

"I don't ever recall cats talking",Cosmo began.

"Look, I'm talking",Isis smirked. She flicked an ear to a gnat.

"Do cats usually talk?"

Isis looked around for no apparent reason then answered, "No silly. We cats are rare and talking ones are even rarer!"

"Like, how rare?"

"Have you seen any other cats talk?"

Cosmo shook his head, "No. You're the first cat I ever seen in this, I mean from around here."

"Okay then",Isis settled.

Cosmo was still looking at the cats eyes, they seemed to just, shine. The cat curled her two tails into a wheel like form as she looked at Cosmo.

"Aren't I just adorable?",the cat asked.

Cosmo remained silent as he laid down on the uncomfortable stone. Isis managed to squeeze through the bars and into the cell as Cosmo looked up.

"What are you doing?",Cosmo calmly asked.

"Thought you might need some company",the cat replied as she curled up in front of Cosmo.

Cosmo watched the cat for a moment then asked, "Where am I anyways?"

Isis looked up at Cosmo, "Still have some questions?"

"Yes",Cosmo simply replied.

"Alright I can answer that. You're in an old abandoned building. It used to be a place where dragons would go if they broke the laws. However the building was very rarely used, rare to the point where the owner couldn't pay the expenses on the building."

"Ah, I see now",Cosmo interrupted. "Any idea on why I'm being held here?"

"Not sure",Isis replied. "My master somehow managed to bring you here for a reason I'm not to sure about. But she looked like she had something on her mind at the time."

"She?",Cosmo began. "Is this she blue?"

"Why yes she is. Her name is Kali."

"_I knew it_",Cosmo thought. "She attacked me once already, she tried to kill me."

"Attacked you? That's not like her",Isis stated. "Something strange has been going on with her lately." Isis swatted a mosquito with one of her tails from behind without even looking.

"So how did the two of you meet?",Cosmo asked to pass the time.

Isis seemed to sigh then began, "Well, I guess I can tell you. Truth is, I used to be an alley cat. Scrounging up food and barely being able to survive in the city. Then there was this big fight between the dragons and another species I didn't recognize. I heard someone say they were Malefor's troops or something. During that time I was caught in the middle of a battle and I fled into the alleys where I hid. Then Kali happened to come along, saw me and took pity on me. We talked and I managed to get her to let me come along with her. She was nice then, but to you is a different story. I don't know why yet, but I have been-",Isis looked around to check for intruders then said, "spying on her. I haven't been able to find out anything yet, other than she has been talking with some black dragon."

"Black dragon? Is there anything you know about him?"

"No, I always backed off during their conversations so I wouldn't get caught",Isis answered as she stood up onto her furry black paws. "She even forgets to feed me sometimes because of that black dragon." Isis turned and began to squeeze herself back through the bars.

"Where you going?",Cosmo asked from his spot.

"If I get caught talking with you, I may get in trouble",Isis answered as she got through the bars. "Remember, you didn't hear any information from me."

"Then who did I hear it from?",Cosmo joked.

"Uh, me, but you didn't hear anything from me."

Cosmo sighed, "I was being sarcastic."

"Sure you were",Isis replied as she quickly left the room.

The Cosmo felt the feeling of loneliness rush inside of him.

_Cynder's home 6:18p.m._

Spyro watched out the window in boredom, mostly thinking about the egg. When was it actually going to hatch and such. Even when it did hatch Spyro didn't know if he was ready to tackle such a task of parenting. Especially since hardly anyone knew about it.

Spyro had to tell someone of how they obtained the egg. He couldn't just suddenly start walking around the streets with a dragon who looked up to him as a father figure. Even when he did tell someone about it, what was going to be their reaction? Disbelief? Or would they take the dragon egg from them? Spyro couldn't raise a hatchling indoors at all times. It would drive him to the state of madness. No, he had to think of something else. Spyro wasn't ready to be a father, nor Cynder was ready to be a mother. It simply wouldn't work for him.

Spyro made his way into Cynder's room to see her reading a book while laying on her bed. She looked over to see Spyro and returned to her book without saying a word. Spyro looked past the bed and onto the chair with the spanish moss on it. Atop of the moss was the egg. Spyro noticed the egg was still black and hadn't thought about cleaning it until now. He didn't even know the actual color of the egg, he always accepted it was black and left it at that. But he got to thinking for a short second before returning his sight to Cynder.

"Hey Cynder I've been thinking."

Cynder was quiet for a moment, flipped a page in her book then said, "What?"

"I've been thinking about the egg",Spyro fidgeted. "I don't think we're ready for something like this, being parents. So I was thinking, maybe we should take the egg to Shivertail."

"You're serious?",Cynder asked.

Spyro responded with a slow nod.

Cynder seemed confused for a moment then said, "Well, it would be the smart thing to do. If someone saw us with an egg they would immediately get the wrong idea. And someone needs to know other than us and Cosmo." Cynder closed her book and put it to the side. "This is hard."

"It's hard for me too. But I think we should take the egg to Shivertail. He has more parenting skills than we do and offers more protection for the egg. We should show the note to Shivertail as well."

Cynder looked over at the egg, "I guess it would be best."

Spyro nodded, "It's tough making this decision, but you're right there. It is best if this dragon was raised in a secure environment and with dragons who know what they are doing. So, should we take the egg to Shivertail now or wait?"

A moment of silence and Cynder answered, "We should take it now, the sooner the better."

After a few moments of preparation, Cynder grabbed the letter and Spyro took the egg. They made their way outside where the sun was beginning to set and the wind was now calm.

The two of them decided to fly instead of walking. Even if Spyro did drop the egg while they were flying, it wouldn't matter. The egg survived being made into a meteorite and nearly taking Spyro off the face of the world and it would be faster to fly there. But the main reason was to avoid the curious dragons who would often jump to conclusions before putting an ounce of thought into something.

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo was losing patience, or was it his sanity? He had been couped up in one small spot for far too long. He passed the time the best he could by trying to remember what he was doing before he was knocked on the head and taken prisoner by the blue dragoness, the same dragoness that attacked him in the alley and showed him unusual affection toward him. Which worried Cosmo the worst. Just the thought of him mating made him shudder.

He somehow managed to block those thoughts as he checked around his cell. He noticed the stone floor was loose in the corner of his cell when he stepped on it. It wasn't noticeable for hay was on top of it, but the stone shifted when he applied his weight to it.

Cosmo pushed the hay aside and easily pulled the stone out of the ground to reveal a spot of sand where the stone was.

Perfect. He could dig his way out of his prison. But then he heard a noise. Cosmo quickly threw the hay back where he stood and casually walked to the front of his cell to find out what the noise was.

The torches gave just enough light for Cosmo's vision ability to not kick in when he wanted it to. He saw nothing or no one in the room with him.

He found himself thinking again. Thoughts of the tornado managed to rush into his mind, the thought of him finding Kaida in her injured state. The thought of him bringing he out and thinking he had saved her. The thought of the white dragon appearing before him all clouded his mind.

Cosmo didn't know what the white dragon meant, but the only thing that had happened to him is that all of his luck was stolen from him. He turned and looked at the spot of hay behind him but decided to leave it alone for now. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched and if someone actually was watching him, he didn't want that person to know what he was up to. A fault in his cell, maybe his luck wasn't stolen from him. Maybe it was just hiding from him, waiting for him to find it.

Cosmo waited in his spot for well over ten minutes before the feeling disappeared and Cosmo was back to feeling that he was by himself once more.

But he soon found himself hungry and wanting something to eat. He hadn't eaten all day and from the looks of things it would remain that way. Cosmo wanted to try and escape, but he would only get one chance. If he was caught, he would most likely be moved to another cell if there was one, or he would just be killed and be done with it. The dragoness tried to kill him before, she most likely wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

Cosmo didn't know why he would be kidnapped, or wanted dead for that matter. Cosmo shivered at the thought of death.

Then he felt a presence again. He looked toward the door and saw it was partly open now. He looked everywhere he could and again, he spotted nothing. Until he saw Isis when she was out of the darkness.

"Isis",Cosmo began.

Isis seemed to smile as she squeezed into Cosmo's cage. "Thought you might be lonely."

"Thanks, I was actually."

Isis curled up in front of Cosmo and wrapped her two tails around herself. "Well I'm here."

"You want to sleep on the hay instead?",Cosmo asked.

The cat looked behind Cosmo. "Oh? That would be better wouldn't it?"

Isis made her way toward the hay and made a spot for herself and laid down in it. It was indeed softer and better than the stone floor. Cosmo laid back on the hay himself beside Isis, thankful for her company.

Eventually, the two of them dozed off to an actual pleasant sleep.

_Later_

Spyro and Cynder was on their way back home, satisfied with their decision of leaving the egg with Shivertail. He didn't understand their story at first, but when Spyro showed the note the story made more sense. Shivertail did mention he saw something fall from the sky during the meteor shower but didn't think much of it. Shivertail assured Spyro and Cynder that when the egg hatched, he would notify them immediately, himself if he had to.

Only a few volunteers were helping with the dragon egg, but those volunteers were more experienced with parenting than Spyro and Cynder combined making the two of them ever so satisfied, especially since the egg would be in Shivertail's quarters. His quarters was almost like a fortress, guards were always posted everywhere inside the building.

The sun was nearly out of sight as the two of them landed at Cynder's home. Now that the egg wasn't in Cynder's home anymore, Spyro didn't see any reason to stay in her home anymore other than that he wanted to, but he was staying at Cynder's for a little while longer, at least until Cosmo returned.

The main reason he waited was so he could invite Cosmo to stay at his home instead of Cynder's. It was a bit larger and offered more space, but mainly was because of the idea of Cosmo staying alone with Cynder. Was it actually a sense of jealousy coming from Spyro now?

However, the more time that passed the more worried the two of them became of Cosmo.

"Cosmo sure is taking his sweet time isn't he?",Spyro asked from the couch. Cynder was relaxed in her rocking chair.

"He went through a lot today",Cynder replied. "But yes, I am a bit worried about him. Maybe we should go look for him."

"Naw",Spyro hastily went. "We could go out and look for him, then he'll be here after we leave. Then he'll go looking for us and we'll never find each other."

"Hmm, you're right. I'll stay here and you go look for him",Cynder suggested.

"What? Why?"

"Should a girl go out and do a man's job?",Cynder giggled.

Spyro fidgeted, "Fine whatever."

Then Cynder returned to her more serious tone, "Seriously Spyro, someone is out to get him. What if?"

"Oh crap, you're right! I completely forgot about that!",Spyro exclaimed.

"How do you forget something like that?",Cynder asked as she watched Spyro quickly stand to his feet.

"You once again forget who you're talking to",Spyro quickly replied as he made his way to the door. "If I'm not back in an hour."

"I'll wait longer",Cynder finished like she heard the quote before.


	16. The Truth

Thanks everyone for reviewing and telling me about that comma mistake I've been making this while time. I truly thought the comma went after the quotes but it goes before. I even double checked using one of my books. I felt like an idiot lol. Thanks for the help! Enjoy the chapter! I'm still trying to break the comma habit so if you see a misplaced comma, just don't worry about it.

Chapter 16

The Truth

Torch was by himself, entertaining himself by juggling two tomatoes in the kitchen with one paw. He was actually getting the hang of it and doing rather well until he heard a _thump_ from upstairs. Torch dropped the tomatoes onto the hardwood floor, startled by the unexpected noise. He picked up the tomatoes off the ground and put them on the shelf and made his way upstairs.

Micha wasn't home so Torch knew who it was. It was their uninvited guest. Seeing it was a ghost of an evident child, there must have been a reason why that ghost was still hanging around and hasn't moved on yet. Torch knew it was his job to see what that reason was while Micha was out, he just hoped it didn't come to this.

He nervously made his way up the stairs, almost stumbling on one of the upper steps. He made his way down the hall and peeked into the last one. To his amazement, the room was on fire.

But Torch was still, something was holding him in place. Then Torch noticed something, he couldn't feel any heat from the fire nor could he sniff the smell of ashes. Instead of running, he stepped inside the room and into the fire.

As Torch was walking in the fire, he noticed the black dragon, hiding in the corner of the room. Torch paced his way to the dragon, then the flames vanished along with the black dragon. Torch then knew the black dragon gave him a sign of something, like he did to Micha. Torch was in deep thought then. What had happened in this house before him and Micha moved in?

Torch had this on his mind as he made his way back downstairs and into the living room, then sat on his chair in front of the fireplace. It wasn't burning and still had some good wood in it.

Torch relaxed, rocking in a smooth motion, trying to remember when he had moved into his home. Some parts of it were fuzzy to him for it had been a few years, but he managed to remember most parts of it.

It was nearly ten years ago when he moved in by himself. He paid a good bit for his home but he was from a wealthy family which lived elsewhere.

He forgot whom exactly he bought the house from, but he remembered paying a gray dragon the money. The first time he walked into his home, it had some sort of a new wood smell to it. Everything inside looked new to Torch but he thought at the time that the house was thoroughly cleaned. He began moving his things into his house and everything began to build up from paintings to furniture he bought from the markets.

Many years later he met Micha, whom bumped into Torch at a local restaurant. Torch had the urge to buy her some lunch where their relationship began.

It turned out, Micha had just moved into the city and had been living in an inn, but she was running low on money. So Torch decided she could live with him. That was how it all began.

An hour passed until Torch heard the door open and someone walk in. He heard the door shut in response making Torch get off his bum and walk into the kitchen. Micha was putting a few brown colored bags on the shelf.

"What's in the bags?" Torch asked making his way to them.

"Food, someone has to do the shopping," Micha responded. "Anything from upstairs?"

"Yes actually," Torch said opening one of the bags.

Micha waited for the answer, "Well?"

Torch took his paws out of the bag he was digging through then began, "I went upstairs about an hour ago. I went to the room our uninvited guest was in and the room was on fire."

"Fire?" Micha interrupted.

"Let me finish",Torch cut in with a hint of worry in his voice. "The room wasn't actually on fire, it was some kind of vision like you had, except less scary." Torch was silent for a moment then continued. "I walked into the fire and I saw the black dragon cowering in the corner, scared for his life from the looks of things."

Micha seemed to be worried for a moment, "Did something happen in this house I don't know about Torch? To me, it seems this dragon is showing us clues of what happened to him." Micha paused, turning her back on Torch. "I fear this dragon child may have died, in some sort of accident."

"A fire? Here?" Torch rhetorically asked. "I don't remember anyone telling me anything about a fire here. I . . . I didn't know anything of the sort."

Torch found himself staring at the wooden floor as he thought back the best he could. Many thoughts roamed through his head, none of them providing any information he needed. He only remembered that he bought the house pretty cheaply. Now he knew why.

_Meanwhile_

The sun was disappearing along with the light it brought unto the city. This was a bad thing indeed. Spyro would have a tougher time looking for Cosmo and there were getting to be fewer dragons walking the streets.

Fewer dragons was a good and bad thing. Good for Spyro's search wouldn't be slowed, bad for that also meant fewer dragons to ask about Cosmo.

The stars were beginning to twinkle in the sky when Spyro made it to Whiteoak Cemetery. He searched and searched but found nothing of use. Until he nearly stepped in an unusual footprint near Kaida's grave.

Spyro curiously knelt over and studied the footprint. There were actually a couple of them, going to and from Kaida's grave. But he couldn't make it out, even though it felt somehow familiar to him.

Then Spyro began thinking back, after Malefor was defeated. That was a week ago, though it felt like months.

_Flashback_

Spyro was peacefully sleeping in his house, glad he could actually get some descent sleep for once. He was in his bedroom covered under the safety of his gray fuzzy blanket on his soft bed made of feathers. His room was a bit of a mess for the moment, books were strode out beside his bed from his reading, and his bedside table still had a half a glass of orange juice. His room was shaped like a rectangle, Spyro's bed was in the middle against the back-wall, two windows were on the other side with a black wooden dresser in between them with an overhead clock hanging on the wall. He owned a small book table on his right with a small bookcase just beyond it against the wall. The exit was to his left. The floor was carpeted a gray color with a yellow stripe following the edge and another bedside table to his left held his lamp up for late night reading.

Spyro was suddenly woken up by a dragon, harshly shaking his shoulder.

"Wake up! We're under atta-"

The dragons voice was suddenly cut off to the sound of breaking glass. Spyro eyes popped open when he saw an arrow sticking through the white dragon's chest. The white dragon fell backwards motionless as if he were suddenly paralyzed and hit the ground hard.

Spyro looked up and saw one of his windows was busted and something was standing outside in the dark early morning. He glanced at the clock as he jumped out of bed and took cover behind his black dresser. It was 5:35 A.M.

Spyro uttered a curse, whoever the attackers were were smart. Attacking this early while most of everyone was asleep and unprepared. If someone wasn't sleeping they were indeed tired. It was the worst time for an attack in Spyro's case.

He looked over at the white dragon, he wasn't moving at all.

The sound of breaking glass erupted again through the other window to his left, this time something else was coming through. From what Spyro could make out, it was small, round, and black with a wire on top of it that seemed to be sizzling in a small sparkling light. It was also getting shorter.

Spyro peeked around the corner of his dresser and out the window and saw two figures running down the streets. He looked back at the round object and realized what it was.

Spyro quickly threw himself through the window just in the nick of time as the bomb detonated. The blast threw Spyro a feet into the streets, making him tumble like a ragdoll.

Spyro groaned, but couldn't hardly hear a thing. All he heard was a ringing noise in his ear. Spyro painfully looked around the ground. His vision turned weird also, he was seeing doubles of everything there was to see. The buildings, the occasional plant growing on the side of the streets, and the two figures standing in the distance on the street.

Spyro forced himself to his feet, anger clearly seen on his face. Spyro started to walk toward them, but staggered back to the ground. He then noticed he had blood oozing its way down Spyro cheek. The glass could have cut him when he leaped through it, or it could have been the shrapnel of the bomb that was thrown in his house.

His house, Spyro looked at the one story home in disgust. His room was the affected part because of the bomb, he didn't dare to try and peer inside. But now wasn't the time for that.

He looked back ahead toward the two figures, and they were gone.

Spyro was able to slowly stand up to his feet. A few moments later, his hearing came back to him as well as his vision being restored.

When the ringing stopped, Spyro wished it hadn't.

_End Flashback _

Spyro shook himself out of it. He had gone too far with his memories. That was one memory he begged to himself to be blocked, but it always came back to haunt him.

Spyro stood to his feet, still looking at the footprint, more sadly this time. He then, looked around the graveyard for any other clues of Cosmo's whereabouts. But his thoughts were trapped in his memories.

Finding nothing of use, Spyro decided to make his leave. His only clue was the footprint, so he began his search on finding the owner of the print. He began searching for the wrong thing.

_Meanwhile_

Isis stretched her paws showing some claws in the process. She looked to her left at Cosmo, still sound asleep atop the hay. She was about to wake him up, but had second thoughts and left him alone. She just stared at Cosmo for a moment, watching him sleep. The little voice in her head told her to stay put instead of leaving. So, she did for a while.

The room itself seemed dead and plain. It was actually quite depressing to Isis now that she had the time to look around in it. She stayed in the cell with Cosmo though, not knowing to trust the little voice and take a chance, or just leaving Cosmo alone in his cell. It actually saddened Isis that Kali would do such a thing to such an innocent person, especially when that person's best friend had just died.

Curiosity suddenly struck Isis, the curiosity of the way Kali has been acting lately. It was just too strange to not think about and the more Isis thought, the more she wanted to know.

She looked back at Cosmo, who was still curled on top of the hay, then moved out the cell.

She squeezed herself through the bars, walked under the table and toward the door. She looked back at Cosmo one last time before leaving the room.

The room Isis was now in was a bit smaller than the cell room. The ceiling was higher up and closed in to the shape of a dome. The were small openings in this ceiling due to old age, the only thing Isis saw was the twinkling of stars. This building certainly had its better days.

The room itself didn't seem all that old though, the walls had a few chips here and there but it wasn't as bad as the roof.

An old torn velvet carpet decorated the floor with holes in it all over, revealing the stony floor underneath.

There wasn't much decoration to this room either, it was basically plain and worn out. The exit was straight ahead of Isis while another door was to her right. To Isis left was some stairs that led to the second floor of the prison. Its basic purpose was to hold more cells, but the stairs themselves were actually unusable due to fallen rubble due to the tornado. In all the corners of the room were lit torches, lighting up the room so anyone could see with ease.

Isis softly padded her way toward the other room, avoiding all the holes in the carpet. When she reached the door, it was already partly open for her. Kali always left the doors open for her to move in and out of rooms easily.

The room she was about to enter was a little smaller than the cell room, but larger than the room Isis was in. There was a comfy looking bed in the corner of the room, it was old but it still gave Kali comfort when she needed it. Near the other corner of the room was an old worn out dark wooden desk. It could be used but to an extent. Some of the drawers were missing and one of the legs was cracked. It looked as if it could collapse easily if enough pressure was put upon it. On the desk was a brown knitted bag of fruit that Kali so happily filled her stomach with. That was all the room had to offer. After all, it was abandoned.

However, Isis stopped when she overheard a conversation taking place. She took cover just beside the door on the wall, eavesdropping on who she guessed was her master. She only peeked around the corner just enough to see who she was speaking to.

It was a black dragon roughly the same size as Kali. His horns looked jagged as they curved back and the spikes across his spine made him look even more mischievous to Isis. His claws looked as if they could cut through someone in one swipe and his eyes looked almost as if they were blood red. It disturbed Isis to see that. His wings were also a reddish color and the tips of them ended in a black, small spike. The black dragons tail ended in a golden double edged blade. This dragon surprisingly didn't look at that muscular. In fact, it looked as if he could easily get beaten up if he was cornered. The dragons face looked skinny but Isis couldn't tell from her position.

This was evidently one of those moments where Kali didn't want her around so Isis steered clear of that situation as she hid just beyond the door, listening in wait.

"So," the black dragon began. His voice sounded soft, which confused Isis a little. "Anything from Cosmo?"

Kali emotionlessly replied, "He was sleeping last I checked on him. I don't see why you're worried about him."

"I'm not worried," the black dragon huffed. "This dragon is supposed to be important or something from what I'm understanding so far."

"Important? How is this dragon important?" Kali asked suspiciously.

The black dragon glared at Kali for a moment but then smiled, "It's none of your concern Kali."

"It is my concern Phantom and you know it! You're the one who's making me do these things to Cosmo! He doesn't deserve any of this!"

"I'm not punishing him Kali," Phantom replied as he turned away from Kali, staring at the bag of fruit on the desk.

"Then what are you doing?" Kali asked, standing up with a hint of anger in her.

"My decision stays, its none of your concern. Don't forget, I tried to protect your sister and look what happened to her."

Kali turned quiet for a moment before softly saying, "I know what happened to her. But it still doesn't change the fact that you're making me do these things. Just let Balkner go, please."

Phantom turned to Kali and calmly said, "You know I can't do that."

"I can't keep doing this knowing my brother isn't safe and out of harms way. He doesn't have anything to do with this."

Phantom remained quiet, closing his eyes, and seemed to be in thought. Isis wasn't sure on who's side this dragon was on, but she gathered a lot of information in just a few minutes. She was actually kind of glad now. Kali isn't evil, she was just made to do all that stuff, made to attack Cosmo, made to throw him in a cell. But why? Isis also heard about Kali having a sister. She didn't know any relatives of Kali, but evidently Phantom kidnapped Kali's brother, Balkner, and Kali has to do whatever Phantom says to set him free.

Isis was about to head back to the cell when she heard, "Someone else is here."

Isis froze as her heart skipped a beat. How did they know that?

Isis was thinking of just running while she had the chance, back to the cell where it was safe. But as she turned to run, the black dragon was there, piercing into her eyes with his. Isis was frozen, too frightened to do anything.

"Well, what do we have here?" Phantom went as he knelt toward Isis. At that time Kali entered the room.

"Oh there you are Isis," Kali said as she made her way over to her.

"Isis?" Phantom eyed the cat suspiciously.

"Don't worry, it's a cat Phantom," Kali assured as she stroked Isis back. Isis relaxed a little now that Kali was with her.

"And an unusual cat I might add. She has two tails," Phantom stood back up facing Kali. "I'll be heading off now. Keep an eye on Cosmo."

"I don't think he's going anywhere," Kali muttered, watching Phantom as he opened the front door and soundlessly left.

Kali sighed as she looked around the room for a moment in wait, making sure Phantom was indeed gone and wouldn't overhear anything.

When the coast was clear Kali began, "Isis, how much did you hear?"

Isis only meowed and rubbed her head on Kali's front paw. A sign of all cats that she wanted to be petted.

Kali shook her head, "Don't start that Isis, tell me how much you heard."

"Fine," Isis sighed. "I was just walking by when I started hearing your conversation in your room. I thought you were talking to yourself so I couldn't help but try and see what exactly you were doing. Then I saw the black dragon and I heard something about Cosmo being special. So I started to leave when that black dragon found me."

Kali looked at Isis as if she was waiting to hear more then said, "That's it?"

"Yes," Isis solemnly stated. "You believe me, don't you?"

Kali looked at her cat for a moment then said, "No, I don't believe you. I think you heard more than that."

Isis started to object but Kali cut her off, "Just keep everything you heard to yourself, got it? Especially around Phantom."

"Who?" Isis crossed her tails behind her.

"You know who I'm talking about. If Phantom knew that you could talk, you wouldn't be here. Keep your identity a secret around him alright? I don't want to lose you too."

Kali petted Isis for a few moments before saying, "Now go keep your friend company. I'm sure he'll get lonely in there by himself."

Isis looked at Kali with a frown, "What about you?"

Kali turned toward the other room saying, "What do you mean?" Isis could hear a sense of depression on her voice.

"Won't you say something to Cosmo? Give him something to eat at least? He hasn't eaten anything all day."

Kali picked up her head at the news, her voice sounding more lively, "You're right, he hasn't. Wait in here for a second."

Kali disappeared into her room for a moment before returning to Isis with a brown bag. It was folded in half backwards and contained fruit she had from her desk.

"Take this to Cosmo," Kali said as she laid the bag beside Isis. Isis was a little larger than the bag when she sat next to it.

"Why won't you do it Kali?" Isis flicked one of her tails.

"If Cosmo saw me, he just wouldn't understand what I was going through. He wouldn't listen to me."

Kali started her way to her room as Isis said, "I'm sure he would listen if you just explain the situation to him and why you did those things to him."

"Or why I kissed him that day in the alley," Kali remarked.

"You kissed him? What? You barely even know the dragon! You dirty-"

"I know Isis!",Kali quickly exclaimed. "I don't know why I did it. I was about to kill the dragon, I could have at least done one thing before I killed him."

"So you kiss him then you try and kill him? You're becoming more weird every day Kali."

"The first time was just a distraction, it almost worked. Thankfully it didn't. I don't know what I would have done if I just murdered someone."

"Did Phantom put you up to that one?" Isis asked sniffing the bag beside her.

"Yes, then the next thing I know. He want's Cosmo alive. I did what I was told and yet he still hold's my brother prisoner."

"So to release a prisoner you have to make a prisoner?" Isis asked.

"I'm assuming that's a rhetorical question. Anyways, go give that fruit to Cosmo, he's probably starved."

Isis watched Kali disappear from view and into her room. The door was left open to a crack, just large enough for Isis to get through.

Isis grabbed the top of the bag with her jaws and slowly dragged the bag into the cell room. She dragged the bag across the stone floor, emitting a scratching noise that woke up Cosmo.

Cosmo looked around the room to see Isis appear into view dragging the bag of fruit. When she was close enough, Cosmo grabbed the bag and placed it as close as he could to himself.

"What's in the bag?" Cosmo asked as he opened it.

"Fruit, something for you to munch on," Isis answered as she squeezed back through the bars.

Cosmo took out all the fruit and placed it on the floor as he took the bag through the bars. Then, one by one, he managed to squeeze all contents of the bag through the bars of his cell and he placed them all back in the bag except for an apple.

"Thanks," Cosmo bit into the apple.

"No problem," Isis replied.

Isis watched the dragon eat for a bit before she found herself thinking. Thinking on whether or not she should "break the ice" as some call it and tell Cosmo of what she heard earlier. Mainly on Kali being made to do these things. It wasn't her fault. It was Phantom's.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Cosmo scratched her left ear. She simply smiled and purred as Cosmo continued to pet her.


	17. Torch's Note

Chapter 17

Torch's Note

Torch made his way into the kitchen, hoping to enjoy some good food that Micha cooked. Torch didn't eat lamb that much but was happy for the change. He and Micha sat by the table, Torch on one side while Micha was on the other. During the meal Torch couldn't help but keep looking over at the boarded up window then returning to his dish.

Micha noticed and knew what he was doing but stayed quiet. She found it entertaining to watch the window bother him during his meal. She knew it had to be fixed eventually so she didn't worry about it too much.

There was little conversation during the meal. Torch talked about his ghost experience again but in more detail this time. Micha politely listened while she ate.

When Micha finished her meal she waited for Torch to finish his, it didn't take long.

After Torch finished his meal, he washed his plate along with Micha's. Micha made her way into the living room to feel a shivery chill in the air. She walked toward the fireplace to see some good wood inside it, then lit it up with her controlled fire breath. The fire took a few moments to spark up, but when it did Micha felt its gracious warmth in return.

"Why did you do that?" Torch asked, entering the room.

"Cause it was cold in here," she replied, sitting down on the closest chair.

Torch shook his head, "It felt good in here though."

"Then why don't you cry about it?" Micha sarcastically said smiling without meeting Torch's eyes.

Torch ignored the comment. He headed upstairs, because of curiosity and boredom. He made his way up the stairs, flicked on a light switch, and walked to the last room. He peeked inside, and spotted nothing worth seeing.

Torch stepped inside and quickly made his way to the window, which he looked out of.

It was dark outside. The only light that he seen was from the crescent moon, and that wasn't much.

Torch turned around and was ready to leave the room, but he spotted something on the bed that wasn't there before. He walked toward the bed and noticed it was a piece of paper. Didn't seem that all unusual, until he flipped the paper over.

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo yawned as the night progressed. He was thinking it was somewhere around midnight, until Isis told him it was only near eight o'clock. It felt like it was much later than that, especially considering how tired he felt. Maybe it was just him, but he felt like something was going on with this blue dragon, Kali. She wanted him dead before and she had the perfect chance to do that before he was kidnapped. Now he was a prisoner and still hadn't been killed. Something was up, and Cosmo wanted to know exactly what it was.

He laid down on the hay in his cell, Isis close by. He was going to try his escape but he couldn't with Isis around. He trusted her, but not enough to try his stunt with her around as a witness. Even he he did trust her, he didn't want to put the cat in that kind of predicament, her knowing about his escape and have to keep a secret from her master. If Kali found out Isis knew, Isis would most likely be punished, something Cosmo didn't want to happen.

He thought about digging while she was asleep, but there was that chance she would wake up. He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

As the night passed, Cosmo was slowly beginning to doze off from waiting.

Around a long hour passed, Cosmo's eyes shut tight. Then he heard Isis moving atop the hay. He opened his eyes just enough to see Isis quietly leaving the room.

"_She must think I'm asleep. I better start digging then. The sooner the better._"

Cosmo watched the exit where light leaked into the room from the door being open to a crack. When he saw Isis leave, he immediately began to get to work.

Cosmo moved the hay to the side and revealed the sandy square in the stone floor. Cosmo started digging, a bit scared in the process. Scared from the thought of being caught, and maybe killed on the spot. But he had to escape or who knows what would happen.

The sand was a bit hard from sitting in one spot for who knows how long, but he still clawed through it.

The more the time passed, the more nervous Cosmo became. The room seemed to echo to the sound of his digging.

Fifteen more minutes passed and Cosmo managed to reach under the wall. He was halfway there, but this was where things would most likely take longer. When he began digging upwards, the sand would fall into the hole and it would slow Cosmo down.

Cosmo's tunnel was just big enough for him to fit in. The bottom of the wall was buried underground around two feet, so Cosmo had a little bit of trouble getting the dirt out. He had to finish this tunnel in one go, there wasn't going to be any way to hide all the dirt he was digging up so he had to hurry.

Twenty more minutes passed. Cosmo was more nervous than ever now. Sweat dripped from his head, either from him working, or from him just being that nervous. He couldn't tell, but it didn't slow him down one bit either.

Cosmo clawed upwards, praying the end of it was near.

A few more minutes passed as Cosmo dug. He clawed at the dirt above him and some dirt fell in his eye. Cosmo rubbed his eye and looked back up. He spotted some light above, making him rub his eyes again. He looked up again and the same light was still there. Then he noticed a hole.

It was moonlight, meaning he only had a little more to go. But he heard something from behind him. It sounded like something was creaking.

The door was opening, meaning someone was coming. Cosmo dug as fast as he could. He thrusted his paw through the hole, opening up the hole even more. Cosmo quickly made use of his horns and pushed through the opening.

Just a little more, Cosmo's head was out. He squirmed and kicked, using his strength to push himself the rest of the way. Then finally, he tumbled out of the hole and onto a patch of grass.

Cosmo brushed the dirt off himself and looked around, he didn't recognize where he was. Trees were everywhere, almost like he was in a forest. Cosmo looked up and saw the crescent moon through a hole in the tree limbs. Leaves decorated the ground all around the abandoned building along with the occasional random flower around the building itself.

"Where am I?" Cosmo thought aloud.

Then Cosmo heard something behind him in the hole he just came through.

Cosmo began running away, until he heard, "Cosmo! Wait!"

Cosmo stopped, and slowly turned around.

_Meanwhile_

Spyro had no idea where else to look for the human. He looked everywhere and asked everyone he seen on the streets. Everyone told him the same thing, they didn't see anyone that matched Spyro's description of Cosmo. The human would have to wait, it was Cosmo he was trying to find. Spyro didn't have anything to describe the human anyways other than a footprint so what choice did he have?

Spyro finally decided to call his search off after a while, thinking that Cosmo was maybe back at Cynder's.

A few more minutes eased by as Spyro flew back to Cynder's. The night sky was dark this night making Spyro's visibility a bit short, but he knew where he was going. He didn't want to see the depressing damages of Warfang anyways.

When Spyro arrived at Cynder's, Cynder almost immediately came out of her home. She eyed Spyro with a troubled look.

"Cosmo's not with you?" Cynder asked already knowing the answer.

"No, I was hoping he was here. He's not here?"

"No . . . he isn't here," Cynder replied with her voice sounding cold.

Spyro walked to Cynder to comfort her, "Hey, we'll find him so don't worry. We just need a little more help."

"But who is going to help us?"

Spyro thought for a full two seconds then replied, "I know who will help us." Spyro spread his wings, "Come on, I bet Shivertail will help us out."

Cynder did what she was told without thinking much of Shivertail. She mostly thought if her friend was alright, where he could possibly be, or if that blue dragoness Cosmo mentioned had anything to do with his disappearance.

The short trip seemed to take a while. When they landed in front of Shivertail's office, Spyro immediately knocked on the door in a fast like pace. A short moment later, a gray dragon, nearly twice the size of Spyro answered the door.

"May I help you?" The dragon asked in a butler fashion.

"We're looking for Shivertail, is he around by any chance?" Spyro answered with a question.

"He is currently busy at the moment, but if the matter is of the utmost importance-"

"It is," Cynder interrupted.

"Very well then, please wait here while I retrieve Shivertail."

The door was shut behind the gray dragon and Spyro and Cynder waited in patience.

"Retrieve Shivertail?" Cynder joked. It brightened her mood for a moment.

Spyro stayed silent, listening for footsteps. A minute later the door was opened to reveal Shivertail. He was yawning, looking like he was half asleep.

"Is there a reason why my butler woke me up?" Shivertail asked rubbing his left eye.

Cynder turned her head, "Was that the matter the butler was talking about?"

Spyro knew it was a rhetorical question but answered anyways, "Probably." He turned to Shivertail with a more serious tone. "Yes, we need your help Shivertail. Cosmo has gone missing.

Shivertail shook his head, "For how long?"

Spyro was about to answer until he heard Cynder say, "A few hours."

"Then I'm afraid I can't." Shivertail knew what the two was thinking so he continued. "The reason why is because I cannot get a search party if someone has only been missing for a few hours. I can only do that if someone has been missing for twenty four hours."

"But, but why?" Cynder stuttered.

"Like I said, Cosmo has to be missing for twenty four hours before I can round up a search party. I'm sorry but that is just the rules I must follow."

Spyro seemed speechless for a moment, "There has to be something you can do to help us."

Shivertail shook his head, "There is nothing I can do, now please leave."

Spyro seemed petrified. Shivertail had never acted like this in front of him before. Maybe he was just grumpy from being woken up from his sleep.

"Fine! We'll just go find him ourselves!" Cynder shouted.

Cynder turned and began walking away. Spyro just looked at Shivertail, shook his head, and followed Cynder. Shivertail watched them for a few seconds, mumbled something, and shut the door.

Shivertail turned around and began heading back. The room he was in was small, even though the ceiling was high with a yellow chandelier hanging from it. Gray carpet decorated the floor and only two paintings hung on the white colored brick walls.

Shivertail was about to head down the hall on his right, when he heard, "Don't worry, you did good. They believed every word."

Shivertail gritted his teeth, "For your sake they better not be coming back."

_Earlier at Torches home_

Micha relaxed in her chair, slowly falling asleep to the sound of crackling in the fireplace. Her eyes were shut and she was content for the moment. She heard some ruckus from upstairs, but didn't think much of it. She knew it was Torch, doing whatever he was doing.

Then Torch appeared in the stairway, "Micha!"

Micha's eyes shot open, "What?" She sighed.

"I found something you're gonna want to see!" Torch indicated. He was at a quick pace.

"Was it your intelligence by any chance?" She joked.

Torch said nothing, but handed over the sheet of paper he found. Micha looked at Torch for a moment, her expression was one that Torch seen many times lately. Micha looked at the paper, and wordlessly handed it back over.

"So, any idea what it means?" Torch asked as he folded the paper into a square.

"I . . . seen it before, but I don't know what it means. I seen it when the black dragon was showing me that vision that night."

Torch couldn't help but peer into the kitchen, seeing the boarded up window. "I still have to fix that one of these days."

"Sorry," Micha apologized. "Anyways, maybe someone around here can help us with this sentence we are having so much trouble with."

"Maybe",Torch said, looking at the paper again. "But who is going to know what 'Manir fel ma sal gresinsha' means?"

That was what the paper said. It was written in red ink in large print, or so Torch hoped.

"Why I might know dragon in the city. Have you ever heard of a dragon named Volteer?"

A few seconds passed before Torch answered, "Name rings a bell, the guardian of electricity or something, right?"

"Right, the only guardian that is left. Remember the battle against the humans after Malefor's forces disappeared? Three guardians died in that battle and Volteer is the only one left."

"Sounds bad",Torch replied, sitting down on the couch next to Micha. He eyed the footstool in front of him, and propped his feet up and sighed in relaxation. He noticed he was still had the paper with the strange sentence on it in his clutches. He set it aside next to him as Micha continued.

"The four guardians were the ones who taught Spyro his abilities, the purple dragon, if you forgotten about him. The four guardians were basically like brothers to each other, it surprises me that Volteer didn't take it as serious as I thought he would. He treats the matter almost like it never happened."

"Maybe that's because he isn't the kind of dragon that will keep things with him all the time. He's probably one of those few who can let things go easily and forget about them," Torch explained.

Micha groaned, "I was getting to that."

"Not fast enough evidently," Torch grinned.

Micha sighed and stood to her feet. "I'm going to bed."

Torch looked at the clock on the wall. It was nearly half past eight. "Why so early?"

"Because I'm tired," Micha snapped.

"Okay then, go on ahead," Torch insisted.

Micha went on into the bedroom, without saying another word.


	18. The Mystery Of Velxtra Forest

Chapter 18

The Mystery Of Velxtra Forest

Spyro and Cynder were both looking for Cosmo now, unsure of his whereabouts. With hardly a clue of where to look, they searched the city. Both of them knew they wouldn't be able to get a descent night's sleep knowing Cosmo was still out there, somewhere. But that was just it, somewhere wasn't enough information to do anything with.

Both dragons were walking on the night's narrow backroads. There were a few homes, most of them were one story high but there was an occasional house with two stories. Any empty spot on the sides of the road were occupied with tall grass, dandelions, and various flowers. Each spot let off its own unique fragrance that could make almost any dragon feel relaxed.

Cynder looked up into the night sky. Hardly a cloud was there to block the amazing view of the stars and the other planets, one of which, looked quite big. But now wasn't the time for laying back and gazing at the stars.

Spyro seemed to slow down his pace, almost to a brittle stop. Cynder stopped as she noticed she was leaving Spyro behind, letting him catch back up. Then she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Just thinking," Spyro faintly replied.

"About?"

"Well," Spyro began. "What if, I missed something. A clue in Whiteoak. There has to be something else there." Spyro began walking his usual pace down the dimly lit road. Cynder followed. "I only found footprints that looked like they belonged to a human."

"But what would a human want with Cosmo?" Cynder interrupted.

"I was thinking the same thing," Spyro frowned. "Anyways, if Cosmo wasn't around when the war began, then he couldn't have made enemies with the humans. So what I'm thinking, someone else is responsible for his disappearance."

Cynder was quiet for a moment before answering, "The blue dragoness he mentioned to us perhaps?"

Spyro slightly nodded, "As far as I know, she is the only enemy Cosmo has."

"So we really should be looking for this dragon, right?"

"Yes, we should."

Spyro and Cynder continued on the street for a few more minutes. The more they traveled on it, the more messier it became. Trash was laying on the streets along with some debris of some damaged buildings surrounding them. It gradually worsened as they continued. Spyro guessed that the tornado must have passed through here, and the workers haven't gotten this far yet.

Eventually, Spyro and Cynder were forced to fly, due to all of the debris blocking the road. Spyro was glad for the flight. He was actually getting tired of walking, and the cool breeze against his face cooled him off in minutes.

As they flew, they kept eyes on the streets below, for anybody. If they saw someone, they landed, described Cosmo to that someone and asked if they had seen him recently, then continued on. They were having no luck and as the night progressed, the fewer resources there was to ask.

As Spyro and Cynder flew over the city, Spyro asked, "There's one thing that I don't understand about this though."

"And what is that?" Cynder asked, looking over at Spyro.

"Why was there a human at Whiteoak in the first place?"

"Don't know",Cynder immediately answered. "Maybe we should check the cemetery out. I wouldn't mind seeing these footprints."

"What, you don't trust me?" Spyro frowned.

Cynder stayed quiet, unable to grin at the remark.

The duo changed course and headed for the cemetery, unable to find any clue of where Cosmo was. The trip was quiet, too quiet for Cynder's liking. She wanted to break silence, but couldn't think of anything to bring up into a conversation. The wind, rushing by her, was the only noise during the whole trip.

Finally, around ten minutes later, the two dragons arrived at Whiteoak Cemetery. They landed in front, and walked in from there.

Spyro wasn't too siked about going into a cemetery at night though. Especially considering it was quite dark. The crescent moon was the only light source, and the trees blocked some of it.

After passing by a few graves, Spyro found Kaida's. On the headstone was written, "**Here lies Kaida the dragoness.**" Below that was inscribed, "**Devoted friend, and sister.**"

"That's odd," Spyro said as he finished reading the inscription.

"What?" Cynder asked, making her way to him.

"Read the inscription on Kaida's grave. I don't remember seeing that before."

Cynder scanned the inscription then said, "They probably did that after everyone left."

"And I didn't know Kaida had a sister," Spyro continued.

"Sister?" Cynder read the inscription again but more slowly this time. "Hey, you're right. According to this headstone, Kaida had a sister. I didn't know that."

"Not many people do," a voice emanated.

Spyro looked around then asked, "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, we're not alone",Cynder replied.

_Earlier In An Unknown Location_

Cosmo was not too surprised to see who called his name. A blue dragoness was brushing dirt off herself when Cosmo turned around.

"Please Cosmo! Let me explain!" Kali called out.

"Why should I?" Cosmo barked. "You going to try and kill me again?"

"No!" Kali exclaimed. "Will you just listen to me?"

Cosmo was clearly angry and Kali could see it building up inside him. Cosmo was quiet for a moment as he watched Kali. "Why do you want me dead?"

"Thanks," Kali said.

"For what?" Cosmo wondered aloud.

"For letting me explain. My name is Kali if Isis never told you. You must promise to keep this a secret though."

"_What is this girl doing?_" Cosmo thought. "_Now she wants me to keep secrets. Well, if it will get her to tell me what's going on._" Cosmo looked at Kali, "Alright, I promise."

Kali smiled for a moment before returning to a more serious look, "Alright, it all began right before the storm hit hit the city. Me and my brother, Balkner, were out getting supplies, and suddenly the storm struck. We began to head home and the storm began getting worse and worse. Then all of the sudden, the wind began picking up to great speeds. Then that's when I noticed the tornado. Me and my brother ran as fast as we could, then a black dragon appeared out of nowhere."

"_Black dragon?_" Cosmo thought. "Can you describe this black dragon?"

Kali thought for a moment then said, "Yea, he was big, had a few markings on his body, and when me and Balkner seen him, he went to spread his wings, then suddenly disappeared out of thin air."

Cosmo then knew what they saw. The black dragon that meant death, perhaps her brother was going to die soon? Cosmo stayed silent as Kali continued her story.

"After the black dragon disappeared, me and Balkner continued the best we could. Then suddenly, a large piece of rubble broke off of a building and flew toward us. Balkner only managed to push me out of the way and the rubble hit both his legs under him. The hit, broke his legs and he couldn't move."

Kali went into a dead silence then. Cosmo waited for a moment then noticed a tear falling from Kali's eye. Cosmo looked around himself, and made his way over to her. He put his paw on her shoulder to comfort her and she smiled in reaction as she wiped her tear away.

"Thanks," Kali managed.

"Don't mention it," Cosmo replied.

Cosmo sat back down onto the grass below him while Kali continued. "After Balkner broke his legs, he told me to leave him behind. I didn't though. I stayed with him, and another black dragon happened to come along as if it were from nowhere."

"Was it the same black dragon as before?" Cosmo interrupted.

"No, this dragon was smaller, and his eyes were red. He was different from every dragon I knew. But he helped Balkner, in a way. The black dragon lifted my brother, and the two of them disappeared, just like the other black dragon. That was when I ran. I ran and managed to escape the tornado, thinking my brother was gone. The next day came, and the black dragon appeared to me again. He told me his name was Phantom, and he told me that my brother was safe."

Kali took a momentary break before continuing, "However, Phantom wasn't up for just giving my brother back, he held my brother as a hostage and told me I had to do something for him before he would have handed him back over to me." Kali stopped for a few seconds then continued. "He told me I had to track down a yellow dragon named Cosmo, and kill him. Of course, I tried to object but only said that he wouldn't talk to me again until you were dead. When I failed to kill you, he appeared to me once again, and told me to take you as a prisoner instead."

Cosmo understood everything now, why he was nearly killed and the reason for his own capture. "So where is your brother?"

"That's just it," Kali replied. "Phantom is still holding him for ransom. How do I even know he's even alive anymore?"

"So what are you going to do now?" Cosmo asked.

Kali shook her head, "I don't know Cosmo, but listen. Phantom wants you for some reason and he hasn't told me anything yet." Kali waited a second before saying, "Just a heads up, you're a wanted dragon to Phantom."

"Any idea why?" Cosmo hopelessly asked.

"No, did you perhaps do something to tick him off or something in the past?"

"I never even met this dragon before," Cosmo responded.

"Then I have no idea why," Kali said. "Listen Cosmo, I want you to get out of here, you and Isis."

"What? What for?" Cosmo objected.

"I'm setting you free Cosmo, and once Phantom finds out," Kali stopped her words.

"I'm not going anywhere",Cosmo replied as he stepped closer to Kali.

"No Cosmo! You have to! I can't hold you here for a small chance of getting my brother back!"

Cosmo was silent a few seconds then said, "Why do you want Isis to come with me?"

"It's so Phantom won't have another hostage to use against me," Kali answered as she slightly shook her head.

"Won't you come with us?" Cosmo asked.

Kali eyed Cosmo, "No, I'm staying here. I'm the only one who can stall Phantom. He won't even know you're gone."

Cosmo didn't know if he could trust her, but he needed to get out of here regardless. If he sat in his cell, he would most likely end up dead, sooner or later. His best chance was to leave.

"Alright Kali, I'll go, and I'll take Isis with me if you wish."

Kali smiled in response, then looked around the forest around her. "These woods . . . is called the Velxtra Forest. We are outside of the city, toward the north to be exact."

Then Cosmo saw Isis emerge from the hole he dug in the corner of his eye. He eyed the cat along with Kali. The cat looked at both of them with worry in the eye.

"What's going on?" Isis asked as she sat down beside Kali.

"Isis," Kali looked at her cat with an upside down smile. "I want you to go with Cosmo from here."

"What are you talking about?" Isis whispered.

"Cosmo is leaving and I'm afraid that when Phantom finds out, he will use anything against me."

Isis seemed to facepalm herself, "Wait, wait, you're telling me you think that stupid black dragon will use me as a pawn in his game? If you think that then you're wrong Kali. I may be a cat, but-"

"Isis," Kali interrupted. She looked up at Cosmo who seemed to shift his sitting position uneasily. "Cosmo will need all the help he can get, escaping these woods is a trial itself. Do you know why this prison was built here in the first place?"

Isis was quiet, which answered Kali's question. She looked up at Cosmo and continued, "Velxtra Forest isn't any ordinary forest. If a prisoner escaped, the prisoner would have to find his way out of this forest. This prison may have not been used much, but history tells that the forest itself would actually swallow the escaped convicts. The convicts would be lost in these woods, and for the rest of his life, he would roam through the woods, never finding a way out." Kali looked back at Isis, "Which is where you come in Isis. Your sense of smell is stronger than Cosmo's."

"B-But-" Isis stuttered.

"No buts Isis. Just do what I tell you, as a last request from your old master." Kali grinned and looked up at Cosmo. "I'm sure Cosmo can take better care of you than I can."

Isis looked over at Cosmo for a second then looked back at Kali, "Alright Kali, what am I supposed to do?"

Kali suddenly had a confused look on her face, "You don't know? Isis, your sense of smell is better than ours. You can become Cosmo's guide through the forest, just follow my scent and you'll be just fine." Kali looked back at Cosmo, "I would say goodbye, but I doubt this will be the last time we meet Cosmo."

Cosmo forced a smile, "I'm sure we'll bump into each other again soon." Cosmo chuckled, "Let's just hope it would be under better circumstances."

"Indeed," Kali replied. "Now you two better get going. Who knows when Phantom will be back."

Cosmo nodded with the same smile as before, then looked at Isis, "You ready?"

Isis looked back at Kali one more time before saying, "Yeah, let's go."

Kali watched the two of them begin walking into the heart of Velxtra Forest. Then she yelled out, "Good luck!"

Cosmo looked back, and waved, "Thanks!"

Kali then made her way back inside, she couldn't sit and watch them walk away. She knew she could stall Phantom, but for how long? She hoped it would buy Cosmo enough time for preparations.

Cosmo knew he couldn't fight against hardly anyone without the ability to breath fire, or any other element for that matter.

Time passed in Velxtra Forest as the unusual duet traveled. They didn't talk, too many thoughts and questions raced through their minds, making it quiet during the first ten minutes. There were several noises the two heard all around them. Crickets, owls, crackling of leaves with each step they took, even the occasional howling of a wolf. However, it didn't frighten Cosmo at all. His night vision ability was working perfectly here, so he could see everything there was to see, with the side effect of everything being colorless.

There was no clear path in the forest to take, so Cosmo and Isis was making their own path. However, the more time that passed, the more uneasy Cosmo became about the whole situation. Everything around him seemed the same as they walk. There wasn't much flowers located in the forest, but Cosmo knew he had seen a daisy, more than once, sitting in what looked like the same exact spot as the last three he saw so far. A daisy sitting by a tree, looking like it was welting and leaning over. Some petals were missing.

Curious, Cosmo counted the missing petals as they passed by it.

Three petals were missing.

Cosmo and Isis continued on for another six to seven minutes, when Cosmo another daisy, planted by a tree, and it looked like it was welting. Same as the last one. Cosmo saw there were missing petals, and counted the missing ones.

Three were missing.

"Isis," Cosmo broke the long silence. His voice was low.

"Yes?" Isis looked up at Cosmo. "What is it?"

"I think we're going in circles," Cosmo indicated.

Isis looked like she was about to laugh for a moment, "I've got a good sense of direction Cosmo. We cats always do, besides, we've been heading straight this whole time."

Isis was right, Cosmo should have thought of that sooner. They haven't even turned in any direction so how could they be going in circles.

Isis asked, "How would you know we are going in circles anyways? You can't even hardly see in the dark unlike cats."

"Any normal dragon at least," Cosmo replied.

Isis looked back at Cosmo, "Explain."

"I, have the ability to see in the dark. Basically like you."

"So that's what Phantom meant. I overheard him telling Kali that you were a special dragon."

"I've also got super-strength," Cosmo bragged.

"Tch, cliché," Isis smirked.

"Explain," Cosmo asked in an offended way.

"Well, its always obvious that some special dragon has super strength, like in books. I've seen it a lot in my life."

Cosmo was silent for a moment then mumbled, "Spyro doesn't have super strength."

"The purple dragon?" Isis asked. "You know him?"

"I'm sort of staying at his place for now," Cosmo answered. "How old are you anyways?"

Isis seemed to smile but Cosmo couldn't tell, "Why do you want to know?"

"Curious," Cosmo replied.

"Only if you tell me how old you are," Isis quipped.

"I'm a week old, I think," Cosmo answered with humor.

"That explains a lot. Well, if you must know, I'm eight months old."

"That's . . . hard to believe," Cosmo responded.

"How so?" Isis softly asked.

"Well," Cosmo began then began thinking of the words to say. "You know a lot of our language to be eight months old."

"Are you saying that I'm smart," Isis flirted. Cosmo went silent then Isis giggled, "Kidding, just a joke."

Cosmo shook his head of the thought that came to his head just then. A couple more minutes passed, then Cosmo spotted the same daisy he saw a few minutes before.

"Alright! That's it!" Cosmo exclaimed as he marched to the daisy. "I've seen this same exact daisy three times already!"

"Four, actually," Isis calmly corrected.

"Four times, I've seen this daisy! Somehow, we are going in circles."

"We can't be going in circles because we're still going on a straight path," Isis said.

"I'll prove it!" Cosmo walked up to the tree beside the daisy and put one of his paws on it. He then began using his claws to tear some of the bark off. When he finished, he stepped back and looked at his work. Just a small area on the tree was missing its bark, but it would prove its usefulness later.

Cosmo and Isis continued onwards, chatting and getting to know one another better. Then Cosmo noticed something. He noticed their footprints in the few sandy areas there were where the leaves hadn't gotten to yet. He followed the prints, and after a few minutes, their own footprints suddenly stopped.

"Hold up," Cosmo said, sticking his paw in front of Isis. "See this?" Cosmo pointed at their footprints.

"From the looks of it, that's. . . our footprints. And they look like they stop here."

"Strange," Cosmo remarked.

The two took a few more steps, past where their footprints had vanished, and suddenly their footprints reappeared in the sands. Cosmo remained silent, he looked over at Isis and noticed that, she too, noticed this strange thing.

Then Cosmo spotted the same daisy he seen multiple times before. He looked at the tree it sat beside, and there was Cosmo's mark that he left. Bark was missing in the tree, in the same exact spot that Cosmo made it.

"See?" Cosmo remarked as he pointed at it. "We are going in circles."

"I'm convinced," Isis said. "But I still don't see how it's possible."

Cosmo thought for a moment then said, "Maybe we should go back and ask Kali for more information about this forest?"

"It would be smart, I guess we can."

Cosmo and Isis made their way back. It wasn't hard at all to find the prison again, especially with the help of their night vision.

When they arrived, Cosmo slowly creaked the front door open and peeked inside.

Seeing no one in the first room, he opened the door more so he could step inside along with Isis.

Isis walked over to the door on the left and said, "She should be in here."

Cosmo walked to the door, turned the faded bronze handle with care, and slowly opened the door.

He spotted Kali, laying on a bed in the far corner.

"Kali," Cosmo called out.

Kali's eyes shot open, "Cosmo?" She looked toward the door to see that it was him. "What are you doing back here?"

Cosmo and Isis walked over to Kali, where she was now sitting on the bed instead of laying.

"We need your help about this forest."

"What about it?"

"We keep going in circles. But the weird thing is, that we are going straight and we aren't changing direction at any time."

Kali seemed to sigh as she went quiet for a moment before saying, "Well, let me try to draw a diagram in your head for you. The forest is a big square, filled with many little squares, like a grid."

"Okay, continue," Cosmo said.

"We are in one of the middle squares of the grid. Each square requires you to take a certain path, otherwise, the square will not let you loose to the next square. If you do not take the right path, you're going to end up, let us say . . . teleporting, back to the other side of the square."

"You lost me," Cosmo interrupted.

"Me too," Isis added.

Kali thought for a moment then began, "Alright, it's hard to explain but I'll do my best. You're heading east right? Well, if you're in the center of a square and you head east, you'll eventually reach the end of it. But, if the correct path is not taken, the 'exit' of the square will not open for you. So if the 'exit' isn't open when you pass the end of the square, you will be sent back to the other side of the square, where you will continue to loop through the square again and again."

"I think I get it now," Cosmo said as he looked at Isis. "Did you catch all that?"

"Yeah," Isis replied.

"Good, because I can't make it any clearer than that," Kali replied as she stroke Isis's back. Isis seemed to start purring for a moment.

"So what are we supposed to do? What path are we supposed to take?"

"That is where, like I said before, Isis comes in. Isis, I've been going back and forth between the city and here for a while, getting supplies and such. My scent has most likely been laid, like breadcrumbs. All you have to do is follow it and Cosmo will follow you through the whole way. As long as you follow the scent, you will make it out of the forest just fine."

"Alright Kali," Isis nodded. "You can count on me."

"So, is that everything you two need?" Kali asked.

"Yeah," Cosmo answered. "Thanks Kali."

"No problem at all Cosmo, just don't come back okay?" Kali joked.

Cosmo smiled, "I'll try and not to."

"Be seeing you," Kali waved.

"You too," Cosmo replied as him and Isis left the room.

Cosmo shut the door back and the two of them left the building.

Isis understood what she was supposed to do now. Using her nose at beginning, she was able to pick up a scent of Kali. She had clearly taken the paths plenty of times, which would prove to be useful to her and Cosmo.


	19. Plasma

Chapter 19

Plasma

The cemetery was dark, too dark.

Spyro and Cynder heard a voice, but they couldn't find out where it came from. Behind a gravestone? Beyond a tree? It seemed as if the voice, echoed all around them.

Spyro looked around, squinting, "Who are you? Show yourself!"

The voice continued, "You're looking for your friend, aren't you?" The voice sounded deep and masculine.

"How did you know?" Cynder asked, looking around herself.

"Don't take me for being rude, but I've been watching your friend."

"Watching him?" Cynder replied. "Are you responsible for his disappearance?"

Spyro and Cynder waited two full seconds before hearing, "No, but I know who is."

Then the two dragons heard something from behind them, footsteps, and they were getting closer. The dragons waited to see, who this mysterious person was. After ten steady, thumping heartbeats, the owner of the voice, showed himself.

It was a human. Six feet tall, thin, and was wearing light armor. Spyro had to look twice, the armor looked almost like regular clothing. The armor was black with a gold etch. He was wearing deerskin boots, and his legs were covered with a black armor as well. The human's armor looked like it had been used, scratches could barely be seen on the armor. It wasn't that decorative either, Spyro couldn't see any symbol on his armor of any kind. The human was wearing a black cape on his back. He didn't wear a helmet, making his head vulnerable. His eyes were a pale blue, his black hair was medium length. His hair fell past his ears, but only by inches. He wore a red band around his head, and he was equipped with a claymore, a large, two handed blade. He also wore black gloves on his hands

The claymore's bunt was silver. The bunt had a good grip, under the grip was a ball with a spike on the other side, so the user of the sword wouldn't let the sword slip by accident in battle. The middle of the bunt had a ruby etched inside it, and above the ruby, the bunt split where the blade began. On both sides, the bunt rose in blunt points. The sword itself, was double-edged, able to kill from the back, and the front. The white sword stood a few feet tall, and ended in a point, so sharp it could make someone finger bleed if they applied little pressure to it.

Spyro grew surprised as the human continued, "Do not be scared, I'm not here to cause trouble."

Spyro huffed with slight anger in his face, he shifted positions to a defensive sitting stance, in case the human tried anything, "I'm not scared of you, I was only surprised, that's all."

Cynder was worried, but she didn't notice it. "Why are you here?"

"To help you. My name is Frederick. I'm part of an organization, far to the south, in the mountains known as, the Tathric Range. I'm only one of twelve."

"What do you mean, one of twelve?" Spyro asked, still keeping his defensive stance.

"That doesn't matter," Frederick answered.

"How can you help us?" Cynder asked, confidence in her voice.

Frederick looked up into the stars for a few seconds, then looked at Cynder, "I'm here to tell you where Cosmo is."

"Where is he?" Spyro rudely interrupted, anger in his voice.

"He's, out of reach, so to speak," Frederick revealed. "He is in Velxtra Forest."

"Then that is where we're headed," Cynder said. "Where is this forest?"

"It's toward the west, but it's no use."

Spyro switched stances, now a bit worried himself, "Why is that?"

Frederick explained, "Velxtra Forest isn't any ordinary forest. It's a magical forest. It is said that there is no entrance into Velxtra Forest. There also isn't an escape."

"So how did Cosmo end up in this forest?" Spyro asked suspiciously.

"Someone, who knew the way, took him there." Frederick answered. "The only thing you two can do is wait for him to return. But I wouldn't worry, he has help."

Frederick moved his cape to the side to reveal a small gray satchel with two side pockets, and the main pocket. He opened the side pocket, and pulled out a mirror the size of his hand. He held it in front Spyro. Spyro could see his reflection for a moment, until the image swirled into darkness. Spyro silently watched along with Cynder.

The dark image began showing the two dragons, a forest. It was dark and spooky looking. Then a yellow dragon began to appear in the image. It was Cosmo, and he was looking down at something. Spyro took a closer look, and realized that that something, was a cat. Then the image quickly disappeared, showing Spyro his own reflection.

Frederick put the mirror back in the side pocket of his satchel. "What you two just saw, was Cosmo in Velxtra Forest. As you already noticed, he was following a cat."

"Naw duh," Spyro said. "Why was he following a cat?"

"That cat is his only way out of the forest," Frederick responded, looking behind him in the process. He seemed uneasy standing out in the open. "The best thing you can do, is get some rest. Cosmo will come, you just have to wait for him."

"What's so special about this cat?" Cynder asked, she knew Spyro was thinking it.

Frederick shook his head, "Unsure, however this cat is different." Frederick grinned "You'll see what I mean."

Frederick turned around and began walking away, back into the darkness from whence he came.

"Hey," Spyro called out.

Frederick stopped, Spyro continued. "Who is Kaida's sister?"

Frederick turned his head to face Spyro, he said nothing, just stared for a moment. Spyro stood in place with wonder, his anger, gone and replaced by some other feeling he was having. A feeling of confusion and gratitude.

Frederick turned his head back in front, and wordlessly walked away.

_Meanwhile_

"Couldn't this wait?" Micha asked. "It's late, what if Volteer is sleeping?"

"Then, oh well," Torch shrugged.

The two of them were on the dark streets of Warfang, standing in front of Volteer's, large home. Volteer's home was made of actual logs, and yet somehow, it always kept him sheltered through the storms without the ceiling leaking once.

Volteer always called it his log cabin, a two story log cabin which was right off the main street, two windows in front on the first floor, and two on the second. The front yard was decorated with a picket fence, with a fence door in the front. Inside the fence was a garden on the left, filled with large sunflowers, daisies, goldenrods, and roses. On Volteers porch, which was the only thing around that was made of wood, Volteer kept a plant in a pot he called a hoya.

The hoya, sprouted from the dark soiled pot, with three smooth leaves on the stem. At the top of the stem was a red star shaped head. On top of the head was where the flower blossomed into five petals. The petals started out red, and slowly turned yellow the further the petal went.

An unusual flower and was quite rare. Torch couldn't picture Volteer, picking flowers in the meadow, but the hoya was something different in his eyes.

Volteers porch stretched both ways, to the left and right, and had an awning to protect anyone from the rain. The front door was made of a darker wood than the porch, and the yellow doorknob didn't possess any type of shine.

Torch held on to the paper he brought with him tight as he and Micha made their way to the front door.

Torch hesitated, but knocked on the door, four consecutive times.

After a moment, the doorknob turned and the door opened, showing Voteer.

Volteer yawned, "What's the matter?"

"We'll just get straight to the point Volteer," Torch said, showing off the paper in his paw. "I found this in my house earlier, any idea what it means?"

Volteer was still for a moment, then went, "What? Let me see."

Volteer grabbed the paper from Torch's clutches, and scanned through it. He was surprised, and read it again but more slowly.

Volteer handed Torch's paper back over to him, "I haven't seen this esoteric language in a long time. How tumultuous! Let me go grab my lexicon and I'll be with you two in a moment."

Volteer walked back into his house, shutting the door behind him.

Micha turned to Torch, "What did he say again?"

Torch shrugged, "I don't know. He said that he's coming back though. I'm still glad he can help us with it."

"I know that," Micha said. "What does, tumultuous mean?"

"I don't know," Torch repeated. "Maybe it means, weird."

"I say it means exciting," Micha suggested.

"What about esoteric? I never even heard of that word."

Micha shook her head slightly, "I haven't either, I say that one means that something is old."

The doorknob suddenly turned, startling the two dragons, ceasing their conversation. Volteer was holding an old looking book. The front cover only had a symbol on it.

The symbol looked like a mishapen circle, with all kinds of lines running through it. Or maybe it was wrinkles? Torch couldn't tell.

Volteer snatched the paper from Torch's hand and read the sentence out loud, "Manir fel ma sal gresinsha, I know that Manir, means 'look' and ma means 'the'. The rest I'm not too sure about."

"Okay, thanks," Torch said. "Anything else?"

"Hold on, working."

Volteer opened his lexicon and began flipping through some pages.

A few moments later, Volteer grinned, "Ah, fel means 'in'."

"So it means, look in the- so far?" Micha asked looking up at Volteer, wonder sparkling in her eye.

"Indeed it does." Volteer flipped through a few more pages. "Now for the rest."

Volteer took his time deciphering the message. Even he was excited about what the message would say. He looked confused at one point, then smiled and continued onward. After what seemed like thirty minutes, Volteer finally closed the book, and handed the paper back to Torch.

"Did you figure it out?" Torch asked in a low tone.

"Sure did," Volteer replied.

"Are you going to tell us?" Micha added.

Volteer waited a moment on purpose to build the suspense, then said, "It means, 'Go look in the basement'."

"Basement?" Torch repeated. "But we don't have a basement."

"I can't help you there," Volteer frowned. "I did my part in your laborious task, it's up to you to finish the rest. So, is that everything you require of me?"

Torch and Micha nodded in unison.

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you find that paper in the first place?"

"A ghost gave it to us," Torch admitted without a care in the world.

Volteer chuckled, "Okay then, hope you two get this conundrum figured out. I'll cogitate about the situation, and if I come up with anything, I'll tell you two as soon as I can."

Torch waited for Micha to answer, but she never did so Torch said, "Okay, you do that and we'll go, get this conundrum figured out."

Volteer turned and walked back into his log cabin and shut the door behind him.

"Conundrum?" Micha smirked.

"I wanted to sound smart," Torch replied in a happy tone. He certainly was glad that the message was deciphered, now he had to figure it out. "Basement," Torch began but never finished his sentence.

_Meanwhile_

Spyro and Cynder flew their way back to Cynder's home, knowing they were unable to do anything at the moment. Spyro laid back on the couch, frustrated, that a cat could help Cosmo more than he could. He still didn't see how the cat was special, or why Cosmo was following it.

Spyro soon found himself asleep. He was dreaming, or remembering. It was all too real for him.

_A Week Ago_

_5:40 A.M._

Spyro felt his head, then brought his paw down to look. It had blood on it. His head was clearly wounded from the explosion.

Spyro ran back into his bedroom, or what was left of it. He looked beside his bed in disgust.

The white dragon that woke him, saved him even, was dead on the floor with an arrow through his chest. If the arrow didn't kill him, the bomb surely did.

Spyro made his way back out of his house, the same way he came in. He looked down the streets, hearing the screaming of dragons and the sound of battle.

Spyro leaped three feet into the air, before flapping his wings. In the air, the city was a disaster. Smoke filled the air from fires, making Spyro hold his breath as he made his way through them. Buildings were burning, innocent dragons were dieing, and explosions echoed over the city.

A loud scream came from down below, making Spyro look down. He could barely make it out through the darkness, but he saw a dragon, fleeing down an alley. Soon after, he saw two figures chasing the dragon.

Spyro dove into the alley where the dragon was, and quickly landed. The dragon looked, and was gracious to see Spyro.

Without saying a word, the dragon took her place beside Spyro. Spyro had to look twice, he thought it was Cynder.

This female dragon was black all over, her wings were black and the membrane was a pink color. Her tail was longer than average, it ended with a triangular spike, that was black. The only thing that wasn't black was the dragon's eyes. They were green. And a feature about this dragon peaked Spyro's interest. The dragon had fur, not scales. He could have sworn she had whiskers, but Spyro didn't pay attention.

The alley Spyro landed in was narrow, not much room to maneuver.

Then Spyro saw the pursuers. Two figures appeared, and stopped a few feet away from the two dragons. The figures drew out their swords from the sides and approached them.

Spyro acted first, breathing fire at his two enemies. The fire dissipated only inches away from the enemy, but they continued their pace, this time they drew metal shields from their backs.

"Fire won't do," the black fur dragon said.

"I assume you know what to do?" Spyro asked.

The fur dragon only whispered, "Isn't metal a good conductor of electricity?"

Spyro knew what she was getting at. Instead of waiting for them to get closer, he fired bolts of electricity. The arched into the enemies shields.

The electricity coursed through their shields and into their bodies, making them violently shake in pain.

When Spyro stopped, both figures said a few words to each other, words Spyro couldn't understand, then they threw their shields at the two dragon's like frisbees.

Spyro crouched, but the fur dragon had a different idea.

The fur dragon caught the shield thrown at her, then threw it back at the enemy. As the enemy was ready to catch it, just like she did, she blew electricity into the thrown shield. The enemy had no time to react and ended up catching it, along with all the volts. The fur dragon continued coursing electricity into the shield.

Spyro was about to help himself, but the fur dragon stopped.

The two figures uttered some words in an angry tone, then charged. Spyro changed his element to ice, and blew some ice shards toward the two charging figures. Each ice shard either missed, or was blocked by the enemy's sword as they charged.

Spyro glanced over at the fur dragon, and her eyes were closed. Spyro was about to nudge her, but the dragon's eyes open along, and the dragon shot a green beam from her mouth. The beam struck the two figures within seconds.

It was all so sudden, Spyro didn't know what just happened.

The fur dragon stopped, seconds after, and the only remains of the enemy, was a gooey pile on the ground.

The fur dragon nodded, "Serves you right."

"What was that?" Spyro exclaimed.

"What? Humans you mean?" The fur dragon replied, her voice was soft now that she was calm.

"Humans," Spyro repeated. "I was meaning that attack you did, the green beam."

"Haven't you ever heard of the element, plasma?" The fur dragon asked. "Your name?"

"It's Spyro. I never seen a fur dragon before. What's yours?"

The fur dragon smiled, "Thanks for the help Spyro."

The black fur dragon went quiet so Spyro continued, "Any idea on why we are being attacked?"

"No," The fur dragon immediately answered.

"Didn't look like you needed help," Spyro almost seemed to grin, but a nearby yell prevented it.

"I didn't, but thanks", the fur dragon said as she began running ahead. She turned and motioned for Spyro, "Come on!"

Spyro took off, staying close to the unusual dragon. "You never told me your name."

The fur dragon continued her run, "It's, Isis."

_Velxtra Forest_

Cosmo figured he was making good progress with Isis and was pretty thankful. He hadn't seen anything that seemed familiar to him lately.

They had been traveling for a while now. Cosmo wasn't sure exactly on how long, but he guessed it must have been forty minutes.

Cosmo thought he was being stalked for a moment by a wolf or coyote, he couldn't tell the difference between the two. He could have even swore he saw one in the distance, but Isis just said it was eyes playing tricks.

"I swear I just saw one!" Cosmo said in a low excited tone.

"That'll happen when you're in the forest," Isis continued following the scent of Kali.

Cosmo looked around for a moment, then looked back forwards, "They're stalking us, waiting for the right time to attack. I just know it."

"You're a dragon," Isis indicated. "If they do, just blow some fire on them."

Cosmo bluntly replied, "I wish I could."

"Oh, so the great and mighty special dragon can't breath simple fire?" Isis joked with a mild giggle.

Cosmo became a little embarrassed. "No, I can't."

Isis stopped in her tracks, sounding more serious, "What?"

"I, I can't breath fire. Or any other . . . element for that matter."

"Great," Isis replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Aren't you worried? What if we're attacked?" Cosmo said as the two of them continued walking.

"No," Isis simply responded. "Not really anyways."

"What if we're attacked?" Cosmo asked again.

"I'll wing it," Isis said.


	20. Isis's Suspicion

Chapter 20

Isis's Suspicion

Spyro woke up from his memories, almost sweating. The one memory he wanted gone, continued to haunt him no matter where he was. He laid on the couch in the dark, thinking back to that day he met that fur dragon. Strange, for he never saw her again since then.

Spyro tried going back to sleep. He laid on the couch for, well over, twenty minutes. Getting back to sleep would be a challenge for him now.

Beginning to become frustrated, Spyro forced himself up and made his way into the kitchen. He opened the fridge, rubbing his right eye in the process, and grabbed a jug of milk. He retrieved a small glass from the cabinet next to him, and poured milk into it until it was half full. He took a sip before putting the milk jug back in the fridge.

Spyro picked up his glass and walked over to the window. He looked outside, not seeing anyone, or anything other than the crescent moon. Just your typical night.

When Spyro finished his milk, he set the glass in the sink to be washed in the morning, then he returned to the couch. He sat for a moment before lying down. Eventually he fell asleep, continuing his nightmare of a memory.

_A Week Ago_

_5:54 A.M._

The fur dragon, Isis, ran down the alley, closely followed by Spyro. Spyro had questions, but knew they had to wait. Whoever this fur dragon was, she certainly knew how to defend herself. Spyro just didn't expect her to use the new element, she called plasma. She was also capable of using electricity, Spyro wondered what else she was capable of doing.

This fur dragon was a little smaller in size than Spyro, but she acted as if she had a lot of energy in her.

When the two dragons reached the end of the alley, Isis looked to her left. She spotted a battle between the dragons and some humans in the distance, then ran over to assist them without saying a word. Spyro followed, knowing what she was doing.

The sound of unsheathing swords slowed the two of them down, Isis looked behind her, and stopped. Spyro did the same.

Three humans were charging the two dragons. Each equipped with a longsword and shield, and roaring some kind of battle cry as they charged.

Spyro braced himself to begin his next fight, but didn't notice what Isis was up to.

Isis opened her mouth and water shot out in front of her. Spyro looked, and was quite shocked. The water was forming in front of them into a large wave, the size of the street and as tall as a second story house.

The humans stopped, yelled a few words to each other, then began running the other way.

Spyro looked over at Isis, whose eyes was closed for a moment before she opened them. When she did, the wave began traveling down the street with ease, as if the wave was on top of water. The humans were only inches away from the alley they came from until the wave collided with them. The three humans were still inside the wave until it crashed onto the street with serious impact.

The humans laid wet and motionless. Water, another element Spyro wasn't expecting.

"Alright, we need to get going," Isis informed.

"Yeah, those dragons need our help."

The two, turned back around and headed for the battle ahead, unaware of the real danger ahead.

_Present Time Period_

_In Velxtra Forest_

Cosmo and Isis had made great progress. They managed to make it near the end of the confusing forest, only making a loop one time. Isis was dozing off at the time, and her nose quit on her. But after they looped, it woke her up.

Now, Cosmo could see the end of the forest, an opening in the prison he had been in for so long. He continued following Isis until he was completely out though, just in case.

As they traveled toward the end, Kali was stuck in Cosmo's mind. He wondered how she was doing by herself, if she was fine or if Phantom discovered his disappearance.

When Isis and Cosmo finally made it out of the forest, Cosmo was overjoyed.

The two of them were in an open empty space, filled with tall green grass, various flowers, and a clear view of the stars.

"Finally," Cosmo happily said. "We're free!"

Isis smiled as she watched Cosmo walk ahead. "And the city is straight ahead."

Cosmo squinted, and spotted the city of Warfang a few miles ahead. "You're right, can't wait to get home and sleep in a good bed."

Isis looked around, in thought. Thinking of what they talked about in the forest. She remembered what he said. He said that he was special, and had special powers.

Her thoughts suddenly vanished to Cosmo's voice, "Hey Isis, you coming?"

Isis looked up to see Cosmo a few feet away. She showed happiness as she said, "Yeah, can't wait to get back to city myself."

Isis walked to Cosmo's side, and the two began the short walk back to the city

A half an hour passed before they reached the main entrance to the city. The open doorway was pretty large and was guarded by two dragons on both sides, both of which looked like they were falling asleep in place. Above the two dragons were lit torches on the wall. In front of both the dragons was a type of stand, used to keep supplies, food, and a place to sit. A brown dragon from the right approached them as if he wasn't tired at all.

"You're out late, anyways, welcome to the city of Warfang. Please excuse the mess, we're working on the repairs."

Cosmo realized the brown dragon was talking to him. He thought that the brown dragon thought he was new in the city, so Cosmo acted as if he was. "Thank you, keep up the good work and all that stuff."

The dragon looked at him, half-asleep. "Looks like I'm not the only one that's tired. If you need an inn, I could help you with that. Wait here please."

The brown dragon walked over to his stand and grabbed a folded piece of smooth looking paper. Cosmo watched the dragon bring it to him and hand it over. Cosmo looked at the paper and began unfolding it.

"It's a map of Warfang," The brown dragon continued. "It should help you out some, but be wary, some of the sites are being repaired. We had a tornado come through our city."

Cosmo just finished unfolding the map, it was pretty big. It had a legends key on the left, telling which symbols meant what, and it also told which way was north. Pretty useful.

"Thanks," Cosmo began folding the map back together. It was more like a puzzle now, trying to fold it back the way it was.

The brown dragon chuckled, "We always have dragons that have trouble folding that back together."

"You're telling me," Cosmo replied. A few moments later, he folded the paper back to it's original form.

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you come from?"

"What do you mean," Cosmo said.

"I mean like, what city did you come from."

Cosmo thought for a moment then answered, "Seven Eleven."

"Never heard of it," the dragon answered. "Anyways, sorry to keep you held up. You may continue into the city."

Cosmo nodded and walked toward the doorway. He looked down, then around him to realize something. Isis was missing.

"Something wrong sir?" The brown dragon asked, standing behind his stand.

Cosmo looked up, then said. "I had a ring, I think I dropped it."

"Need help?"

Cosmo nearly immediately replied, "No, it's alright, it didn't mean that much to me and it was pretty worthless."

"Alright, if I come across it, I'll keep it here if you want it back."

Cosmo politely smiled then continued on into the city, worried about his furry friend.

When Cosmo was out of sight of the two dragons, Cosmo heard, "Looking for me?"

Cosmo knew who it was, he replied without even looking, "Isis, where were you?"

"Hiding," she replied. "The two guards wouldn't have believed you came from a city if a cat was with him. They would be suspicious."

"And what would be wrong with that?" Cosmo asked. "I have nothing to hide."

Isis went silent for a few seconds, "Didn't think about that."

"Doesn't matter now, I'm just ready to get home."

Isis was silent as she walked, then asked, "Did you tell that guard you were from Seven Eleven?"

"Yeah, so what?" Cosmo softly growled. "Why do you want to know?"

"No reason," Isis suspiciously answered in a low tone.

"Is there really a Seven Eleven around here?" Cosmo chuckled.

"No, it's just that, well, maybe I'll tell you later."

"C'mon," Cosmo stopped his pace and turned to Isis. "Don't leave me out in the dark. What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," Isis calmly answered. "Just tired. Let's just get going."

"_You are hiding something_," Cosmo thought. "Alright, I understand."

Cosmo brought his map back out and began unfolding it. Isis asked, "What are you doing? Don't you know your way around the city?"

Cosmo finished unfolding the map and gazed upon it, looking for familiar sites that would help him find Cynder's home. "No, not really anyways. I've only been here for a few days."

Isis remained quiet while she thought, "_Few days? And you say you can't breathe any element either._"

"Cosmo," Isis whispered. "If I sound crazy, then excuse me."

Cosmo looked over at Isis in confusion, "Okay, what is it?"

Isis thought it through, then lowly asked, "You mentioned Seven Eleven, a place that no dragon has heard of before. Meaning you're hiding where you used to live. You say that you've only been in Warfang for a few days. And to top it off, you can't breathe any elements."

Cosmo began getting a little nervous, "What are you getting at Isis?"

"Cosmo . . . are you . . . a human?"

Cosmo grew shy of what she said. He merely looked back at his map as Isis continued.

"Cosmo," she slowly said. "You aren't from here . . . are you?"

Cosmo slapped his paw on the map, "Cynder's house should be right around there." He began folding the map back.

"Stop ignoring my question Cosmo. You can trust me."

Cosmo finished folding the map, then looked over at Isis. He looked at her from head to tail, "Alright, just please, don't tell anyone."

"I promise I won't," Isis swore.

Cosmo showed a slight smile, which surprised Isis. "Yes, I was a human once. A few days ago to be exact. I used to live somewhere else, this somewhere, was called earth. Another planet. Another realm. I . . . don't remember much, other than waking up to being a dragon." Cosmo stopped to remember the moment, then continued, "A dragon named Kaida, helped me out. She gave me a place to stay, food to eat, and she taught me how to fly. She knew I used to be a human, but . . . that's all in the past now. It's all history."

"Why are you staying at Spyro's house then?" Isis asked, taking advantage of the silent moment.

"I'm staying at Cynder's right now, Spyro's . . . girlfriend or something. Anyways, a storm passed over the city two days ago I think, that storm was more than just your ordinary storm." Cosmo thought back, then continued, "Kaida was out, and I was sleeping. The storm came, and the winds were so strong."

Cosmo stopped. Isis looked down, putting the pieces together, then noticed a tear on Cosmo's cheek.

"She was my friend, the one who understood me. Even though we only knew each other for a couple of days, it felt like I known her for years."

"Hey," Isis interrupted. "It's alright, you don't have to tell me."

Cosmo didn't, he continued, "She was in an unfinished inn, buying me a room so I could move in when the repairs were completed. But the storm hit, and the strong winds made the building collapse."

Another tear began forming in Cosmo's eye. Isis put her small paw on Cosmo's. "Hey, I know now. You can stop."

Cosmo was quiet as he wiped a tear off a cheek, then rubbed his eyes. "Thanks. We should probably get going anyways." Cosmo seemed in a more happy mood.

Cosmo began walking but felt something pounce on his back. Cosmo turned his head, "Isis, what are you doing on my back?"

"We can get there faster if we flew. Unfortunately, you're the only one who can fly."

Cosmo read Isis's mind, "You're seriously considering of me flying with you on my back?"

"I'll be fine." Isis dug her small claws in Cosmo's hard yellow scales. Fortunately, he didn't feel them. "Just take it easy on liftoff."

Cosmo looked up into the night sky, then bent his legs and stretched his wings. "Just remember, you asked for it."

Cosmo leaped into the air and began flapping his wings in a beat. Once Cosmo was in the air, he looked behind him and noted that Isis was still in place. She actually seemed to be enjoying the flight. The cool, refreshing breeze blew through her fur, her eyes were closed, and she was smiling. Her smile made Cosmo smile, and the unusual duet traveled towards Cynder's house.

The sites came and went as Cosmo flew over them. Isis seemed to be enjoying the flight, she acted as if she had flown before.

As the minutes passed, Cosmo realized that he was growing tired. But some familiar sites kept him awake, and the thought of him and Isis, crashing down below. The streets were clean of pedestrians. If Cosmo got lost, then he would have to refer to his map instead of asking for directions like he usually did.

But Cosmo managed. He eventually spotted Whiteoak Cemetery. He thought about Kaida and even thought of stopping by, but he kept his speed and didn't slow down. He knew where he had to go from there.

"That's where Kaida is buried," Cosmo informed and pointed down toward his left.

Isis looked down and spotted the graveyard. "Whiteoak Cemetery?"

"Yeah, that was where Kali . . . kidnapped me."

The flight continued on for a few more minutes until Cosmo spotted the road he was looking for.

"Almost there," Cosmo said over the breeze.

Cosmo slowly descended over the road, and made a hard landing on it. His knees absorbed most of the shock but it still stung a little.

"You need to work on your landings," Isis said, jumping off of Cosmo's back.

"Oh, what would you know about flying?" Cosmo rhetorically asked. Isis remained silent. Cosmo realized he was still holding the map of Warfang in his paw. He didn't have a place to put it for the moment, so he hid it in his folded wing.

Isis followed Cosmo for a change, down the road with a hint of excitement in her. But she was also strangely nervous.

Then Cosmo stopped in front of a familiar house, and made his way over to it. The familiar one story house with a small picket fence around it and a dark looking patch of woods behind it. He suddenly remembered the time where he chased that strange person through those woods. The woods where he found his first ability, night vision.

Cosmo hesitated from a hint of happiness inside him, then knocked on the door.

He waited for a minute, then the doorknob turned, and the door opened.

Then Cosmo showed a sudden frown. A large, gray, older looking dragon answered the door.

The gray dragon rubbed his eyes, "Can I help you?"

Cosmo almost seemed to gasp and Isis looked confused. Cosmo asked, after a few seconds of surprise, "Where does Cynder live?"

"Next door," the gray dragon answered then pointed to Cosmo's left.

Cosmo looked over to nearly see an exact replica of the house he was standing in front of. "Oh, sorry for waking you, I thought this was Cynder's house."

The gray dragon had a blank look, then shut the door. Cosmo sat for a moment, realizing his own stupidity, then laughed at himself.

Isis giggled, "Wow, at least I've never done that before."

Cosmo and Isis walked over next door, then knocked on the door without hesitation this time. Cosmo only had to wait around ten seconds, before the door was opened for him, revealing Spyro.

"Cosmo?" Spyro nearly exclaimed.

"Hey Spyro," Cosmo casually greeted.

"Cosmo, are you alright?" Spyro asked, concerned.

"Aren't you wondering where I've been, at least?" Cosmo asked in surprise. He was sure that would have been the first thing he was asked.

"You were in Velxtra Forest. I know, someone told me and Cynder where you were." Spyro stood to the side to let Cosmo in.

Cosmo said before stepping in, "Who told you?"

"Some human, named Frederick."

Cosmo hesitated, "Frederick, I met him before, in the graveyard. Friendly he is."

"So you gonna come in?"

Cosmo grinned, "Oh yeah." Cosmo stepped inside, closely followed by Isis. Spyro didn't notice the cat at all. She blended in with the darkness around her.

Spyro closed the door and continued, "Frederick told us where you were. We were worried about you. He said that you had help from some cat or something."

Cosmo was about to answer, but noticed Cynder standing in front of her open bedroom. "Cosmo! You're back!"

Cynder quickly paced over to Cosmo, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I was worried!"

Meanwhile, Cosmo was mouthing to Spyro that he was sorry. Spyro only shrugged. Cynder would get emotional at some points. It wasn't like he was hitting on her so Spyro didn't mind, besides, it was only one hug.

Cynder released Cosmo then said, "You must be tired, why don't you sleep on the couch."

"I was sleeping there," Spyro said.

"Spyro, you can sleep with me tonight. It's not like you haven't done it before anyways."

"Oh okay then, Cosmo can have the couch for all I care, heck, you can burn it if you want to."

Cynder knew he was being sarcastic, "Anyways, did Spyro already tell you about everything?"

Cosmo slightly nodded, "Yeah, Frederick told you two. The same Frederick I met in the graveyard before I was kidnapped."

"How did you escape?" Cynder asked.

"I'll go to the point, the blue dragon was named Kali. She was being used by another dragon called Phantom to do his dirty work. Phantom kidnapped her brother, so she was forced to kidnap me. Then she basically let me go, knowing that she wouldn't see her brother anyways. Isis did the rest."

"Isis?" Spyro repeated. "Sounds familiar, where is Isis?"

Cosmo looked around, "Isis? Come here."

From behind Cosmo, the cat stepped out of the darkness and showed herself to Spyro and Cynder. Spyro studied the cat for a moment along with Cynder, wondering how this cat helped Cosmo.

Cosmo read their minds and answered, "Isis helped me by sniffing out Kali's scent so we could get through the forest safely."

"Frederick said that this cat was special," Spyro said, not noticing the two tails Isis possessed. "What's so special about this cat?"

Cosmo looked down at Isis then said, "You tell him."

Spyro looked down at the cat, then the cat answered, "I can talk."

The sudden speech, startled Spyro to the point of him taking a step back. Cynder seemed to smile in amazement.

"Cats can't talk! Cats can't talk!" Spyro told himself.

"Believe it," Isis continued. "This cat, can talk. This cat is talking to you."

"Stop talking!" Spyro exclaimed as he looked at the cat. He noticed that she had two tails. "Cats can't have two tails either!"

"Believe it!" Isis laughed. She walked over until she was a few inches away from Spyro.

Spyro shook his head, "Unbelievable!" Spyro rubbed his forehead with his right paw. "I wasn't expecting you to actually talk."

"I think she's cute," Cynder smiled. "If you got nowhere else to go, I'll take you in."

"A cat?" Spyro looked over at Cynder. "You are taking a talking cat with two tails in?"

Cynder shrugged, "Yeah, why not? I always wanted a cat. And this one talks, so I'm getting a double deal here."

Spyro facepalmed himself, "Alright, fine whatever. Can we talk about this more in the morning at least? I'm tired, and it's almost four in the morning."

Spyro walked into Cynder's bedroom, Cosmo nearly about to bust out laughing.

Cynder said when Spyro was out of the room, "Isis, you can sleep wherever, bathroom is outside of course, unless you can use a toilet. If you need something to eat, I'm sure Cosmo would be happy to help you out. Cosmo, the food is in the kitchen of course. If you're hungry, you're welcome to eat whatever you can find."

Cosmo sarcastically bowed, "Thank you Cynder."

Cynder smiled, "It's great to have you around again."

Cynder walked into her bedroom and shut the door. Cosmo remembered the map tucked into his wing, and retrieved looked at the couch, and couldn't help but flopping down on top of it.

He looked over to his left with a moan, and set his eyes on the stool beside the couch. On top of it, was his music box. Cosmo stretched his paw for it and managed to snag it. He looked at it, thought of Kaida, then fatigue took over. Cosmo fell asleep within minutes, holding his music box.

_Morning_

_Torch's Home_

Torch paced his living room floor, attempting to figure out the puzzle he was given. The note told him to look in the basement, but Torch didn't have a basement.

"_Maybe_," Torch thought. "_If this house was previously owned, maybe the dragons who used to live here, maybe they had a basement then._"

Torch sat down on the couch. "_A fire. The fire that happened here must have burned the original home. My house was new when I bought it._"

Micha walked into the living room from the kitchen. She scanned the room then saw Torch, sitting on the couch. He seemed to be in thought.

"Torch," Micha made her way to him.

Torch looked up, startled for a moment, "What is it?"

Micha sat down on the couch next to him, "Nothing."

Torch sighed. He looked down, trying to imagine something hidden underneath his own floors during these long years.

"I was just thinking, about the basement thing. I'm thinking there is a basement under us from the original house."

Micha acted as if she already knew. "So what are you going to do?"

Torch stood to his feet and looked over at Micha, "I'm going to find out for sure."

Micha immediately added, "So you are going to go digging underneath your own house?"

Torch frowned, "Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, but isn't it going to take a while?"

Torch looked down with his eyes, "Most likely, but the sooner I start, the sooner I'll get finished."

"That's true, I suppose I could help if you need it."

Torch looked back up with a small grin, "Thanks Micha."

Torch made his way toward the kitchen, and Micha sat down on the couch in wonder. Was there a basement under her? If so, what was in the basement that was so important, that a ghost would tell them about it? Hopefully, these questions would soon be answered.


	21. Isis's Lament

Just wanted to thank the everyone for the reviews you've been leaving. It's always appreciated :D

Chapter 21

Isis's Lament

Isis was happy, Cosmo put down a bowl of milk for her to drink for her breakfast. He didn't have cat food, so he dropped some pieces of bread in a small bowl, and put it on the floor beside Isis's bowl. She seemed to be happy with it so Cosmo went with it.

She ate in the living room, in front of the fireplace. Cynder told her she could, as long as she didn't make a mess, while she, Spyro, and Cosmo, ate in the kitchen. They had some eggs, bacon, and some sausage. Cosmo enjoyed every bit of it, even though the bacon was crunchy like he liked it most.

The day progressed with ease. The sky seemed to be getting cloudy at noon, but it never rained.

Cosmo, sat on the couch, holding his music box. He knew what he wanted to do, but Cynder wouldn't let him slip outside just yet. They didn't knew what the music box could do yet, and Cosmo wanted a private conversation with Kaida, so Spyro and Cynder wouldn't think of him as a crazy person for talking to himself.

When Cosmo finally got the chance to slip outside without being noticed by anyone, he grabbed his music box and went straight for the door. He creaked it open, walked outside, and carefully shut the door. Cosmo looked around himself, then spotted the perfect spot to talk to Kaida. The woods behind Cynder's house. Cosmo jumped the fence, and ran toward the trees. When he was far enough in the woods where he couldn't see any civilization, he found himself a tree stump to sit on, then began cranking the music box. The music box played it's beautiful melody, and when it finished, Cosmo felt another presence in his mind.

"Kaida? You there?" Cosmo asked himself.

"Yes, Cosmo. I'm here. I'm sure you have much to talk to me about." Kaida's voice made Cosmo sigh in happiness.

"I do. So much has happened since I last talked to you. I'm guessing you already know?"

Kaida laughed for a moment then said, "Yes, I do. It must have been frightening for you, but I'm glad your'e safe now."

"I have a question though," Cosmo scratched his head. "Isis . . . she knows that I used to be a human. But it's how she managed to put the pieces together is what made another puzzle for me. It was like . . ."

"Isis is smarter than you may think," Kaida implied. "She looks young, but she is a warrior at heart. She has her secrets, and you have yours. You can wait, to see how patience can play out, or if you're feeling bold, ask her."

Cosmo thought about it for a moment, "I see what you mean Kaida. Thanks."

"It's no problem at all," Kaida sounded happy as she said it. "Just glad I could help you out."

"I . . . can't breathe any fire either." Cosmo admitted, knowing she already knew. "Do some dragons go through their lives without being able to breathe a single element?"

"Yes, it's rare, but possible. But you're not one of those dragons. You're going to be a warrior yourself one day, one of great strengths, even the purple dragon doesn't have."

"Whoa," Cosmo went. "Isn't the purple dragon supposed to be special too?"

"Yes, the purple dragon is special in his ways, and you are special in your ways." Kaida went quiet for a moment then said. "One day, you will have the knowledge of every element. Fire, ice, electricity, earth, fear, shadow, poison, wind, plasma, water, light, convexity." Kaida seemed to quietly laugh. "Even madness."

"Madness?"

"Madness, sends suicidal thoughts to your enemies, or makes them go mad. It is a very rare element only few dragons have possessed."

"Sounds useful," Cosmo replied.

"You will also learn about element weakness, ice or water would work well against fire, light works well against shadow, and so on. But some elements doesn't have weaknesses, like fear."

"How does fear work?" Cosmo couldn't help but ask.

"A user of fear would send loud pitched screams to the enemy which usually makes the enemy freeze in place for a moment in fear. But if the scream is loud enough, it can make the enemies . . . "

Cosmo waited for the answer, but disappointed to not hear one. "Do what? What would it do?"

"It could make the enemies head explode."

Although, that voice wasn't Kaida's. Cosmo looked behind him to see Isis, sitting, waiting.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Cosmo raised his voice.

"Not really," Isis calmly replied. "I couldn't hear the other dragon you were talking to."

"Good! Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop on people?" Cosmo continued.

"Cosmo," Kaida continued on in Cosmo's head. "Isis, she's been through a lot. Don't be hard on her, from what I see, she will help you greatly in the future."

"How so?" Cosmo whispered.

"I . . . really can't say . . . not for sure anyways."

"Still talking to your friend?" Isis interrupted. "Don't mind me then."

Cosmo looked down at the open music box. "Kaida, I'll have to call you back."

"Alright, just don't hurt her. You need her more than you think." Kaida said.

"Alright, later then."

Cosmo closed the music box, then the presence in his head slowly disappeared. He looked at the music box for a minute, then looked back up at Isis.

"Am I in trouble?" Isis asked, standing up onto her four paws.

"I need you to tell me the truth Isis. What are you?"

Isis looked at Cosmo, then turned away. "A cat."

"I think you're more than that," Cosmo replied, walking to her side.

When Isis found the right words, she said, "Alright, if you were truthful to me, then I guess I'll have to be truthful to you." Isis took a deep breath and began her story. "I used to be a dragon myself. A black fur dragon. It all happened last week, during the battle between the humans and dragons. I was fighting against them, when Spyro showed up to help me. We began fighting the enemy together, and soon found ourselves fighting in a small town square. We . . . managed to hold them off . . . but everyone was dead except for me and Spyro." Isis closed her eyes, remembering the moment.

_A Week Ago_

Spyro and Isis made their way into a square, where the battle was. They ran into the clash, headfirst.

Just as Spyro arrived, Isis yelled, "Spyro! Look out!"

Spyro jumped to the side just in time. A gray warhammer came down on the spot where he was, just moments ago. Spyro faced his opponent, a clumsy looking, large human in silver armor. The human lifted his warhammer, prepared to strike again.

Before he could, Spyro unleashed his element of ice onto the human. The human growled, then froze in place, only to be shattered a second later by the fur dragon's tail. Isis carried quite a punch, which impressed Spyro. Isis seemed young, but she battled swiftly and elegantly and never over-used her abilities.

Spyro soon found himself surrounded, he cursed himself for daydreaming in the middle of a battle. He was up against five enemies, all wanting a piece of him.

Each human was equipped with a sword and shield, one of which, possessed a black bow on his back with a quiver of arrows to go with it. Every human looked the same, they all wore the same silver armor and had the same type of shield. The only difference was the human's height. Some were taller than others, others possessed more skill.

Spyro looked around him, he was completely surrounded by humans. One of the humans on Spyro's left uttered a foreign word. He couldn't understand him. Another human responded in the same language.

Then the human on Spyro's left charged the short distance, and swung his sword. Spyro threw his head down, the blade missing him by inches. Spyro counterattacked with electricity, sending the lightening into the humans body. Spyro was interrupted moments later by another human, who hit Spyro on the back of his head with the bunt of his sword. Spyro cried in pain, quickly turned around, and slashed his claws at the human. But the human's armor protected him from Spyro's attack, the attack only left a scratch mark on the legging of the armor.

Spyro turned back around to see two more humans than before. Three humans in front of him. Spyro looked behind him, and the other human took his back escape. Two humans behind him.

Just as Spyro thought he had to fly out, the fur dragon came to his rescue. She jumped over one of the humans and landed right beside him, ready to assist, or in her case, take over.

"Cover me for a second," Isis simply ordered.

Isis looked down, and began breathing electricity into the cement below her. A small yellow spot was beginning to form.

A human uttered a word, and attempted to attack Isis. Spyro blew fire onto the human making him back off. The armor soaked the fire in making the element only a distraction in this situation. Another human tried to attack, but Spyro stopped him just in time by breathing some jolts of electricity into the human's body. The human's body shook for a moment, before he collapsed onto the ground.

"Anytime Isis," Spyro barked. He used the end of his tail to trip an enemy behind him.

Under Isis was a large yellow spot where she had been sending her electricity to. Satisfied, she jumped up on her two back paws, then brought her two front paws down on top of the spot.

"Jump!" Isis yelled.

Spyro didn't hesitate. He jumped into the air, to see a circular wall of electricity from around Isis. The wall dispersed, frying anything within a ten foot radius.

Spyro landed to his feet, in amazement. Every enemy in the square was dead, but unfortunately, so were the other dragons.

"What happened?" Spyro asked with his head low. He walked over to a fallen dragons body to see a large gash across his neck.

"We were being overrun, me and you, were the only one's left."

Spyro looked around himself, bodies, human and dragon alike, laid everywhere. It was a horrible sight.

"I'm sorry Spyro," Isis apologized.

"You did what you had to do," Spyro replied and turned to Isis. "What did you do?"

Isis looked around herself first, before answering a few seconds later, "Combined elements. In this case, I combined electricity with earth. An electric quake to be more precise."

Spyro was still looking at the disaster around him, "I should just slap myself. I let these dragons down, their lives, gone."

"Spyro, you did what you could. That's all that matters, if a dragon does his best, what else is there?"

That did make sense to Spyro. If a dragon did his best, what else was there? That quote made Spyro feel a bit better, but he was still at loss of his fellow dragons, dieing like they did. Dieing for the city.

Spyro turned and was about to say something, but Isis yelled out first, "Spyro!"

Spyro looked behind himself, but it was too late. A fireball came out of nowhere, and struck him in the face. He fell onto the ground, moaning at the pain on his face. Spyro slowly looked around from the ground, and a human appeared as if it were from nowhere. This human was different.

He wasn't wearing all that armor the other humans wore, only light armor, and this armor was had a blue tint to it. The human also didn't have a helmet. The human's face looked tan, he had a small black mustache, and a grizzly beard with medium black hair. This human wore black gloves, which looked as if they were smoking.

The human stood over Spyro, showed an evil smile, and a fireball began forming on the palm of his hand. A magician, just Spyro's luck.

Isis sprinted toward the magician, horns down, but it was too late. The fireball was released, and it struck Spyro in the same spot the last one did.

Spyro grunted as his head was thrown back, everything becoming darker. He looked back at the magician before passing out into unconsciousness.

The magician, looked at Isis in a flash, then suddenly disappeared out of thin air. Isis stopped in anger and looked around herself. Just as she did, the magician reappeared behind her, and sent electricity through his fingers, and into Isis.

Isis fell to the ground, struggling to stand up in pain as the electricity coursed through her body.

"Doesn't feel good does it?" The magician expressionlessly said.

Isis tried to crawl, but the pain was too much for her. She tried to turn her head to get a clear view, but couldn't. The magician was still sending electricity through her.

"Please," Isis managed.

The magician continued for a few more seconds, then finally stopped. Isis hurt all over, and she her body was beginning to smoke from electricity in her.

The magician began to toy with her by saying, "So, your name is Isis correct?"

Isis looked at the magician from the ground, confused by the sudden question. "How would you know?" Isis coughed.

"I can read minds." The magician slowly walked over to Isis. She attempted to get up, but the magician kept her down by kicking her ribs with enough force to break bones. Isis held her chest in pain.

"Isis, that name doesn't suit you at all."

Isis tried to crawl, but was too frightened, "Why are you doing this?"

The magician continued, ignoring her question, "To me, Isis seems more like the name of a cat."

"So what?" Isis stammered.

"That's it! I have an idea. Oh what fun will we have!" The magician clapped his two hands together then happily said, "Now don't move much, this will only hurt-" The magician stopped, laughed, then said, "Who am I kidding, this will hurt a lot."

Isis's eyes grew wide, "What are you doing?"

The magician placed his right hand on Isis's side.

"Stop! Please!" Isis pleaded. She began to hurt all over, as if each bone inside her were breaking by themselves. Isis screamed in pain, only to hear the laughter of the magician in return.

Several minutes passed. Isis was in so much pain, that she felt as if she were dieing. Isis couldn't think, couldn't move, couldn't hear, or even see. That was when she realized that she slipped into unconsciousness.

Even when she was unconscious, she could still feel the pain inside her. Ten minutes of pain, then it finally subsided.

Isis didn't know what happened to herself, when she finally woke back up, she gasped at her form.

Isis was now a cat, black fur, two tails, pink freckles, six whiskers, and green eyes. She felt like crying, but noticed that Spyro was missing. Had the magician taken him? Or did he wake up and didn't see Isis?

Isis couldn't think of anything she could do, so she wandered the city. Her home was most likely destroyed, even if it wasn't, she wouldn't even be able to open her own door. She eventually found herself roaming down an alleyway. She curled up onto the unforgiving ground, unsure of what to do.

A few minutes later, Isis spotted a blue dragoness in the same alley. Isis picked her ears up and walked over to the dragoness. The dragoness looked down and took pity upon Isis.

"Hey there," the dragoness said. "My name is Kali." Kali stroked Isis on the back. Isis thought she would feel uncomfortable by being petted, but it actually felt kind of good. Soon, her cat instincts took over, and she found herself purring.

"My name is Isis."

Kali stopped petting Isis for a moment, then said, "You talk? You surprised me!"

Isis looked at herself again then said, "Yeah, that happens."

"Do you live here? In this alley?"

Isis didn't say anything, having only her silence as a reply. Truth was, she didn't know what to say then.

"If you need, you can come with me. I have a place to live and I'm sure it's better than an alley."

Isis was quiet for a few seconds. She looked around herself, seeing the alley, thinking of her home. A place she may never see again. Isis wasn't about to take a chance. Then she looked back at Kali, and made a simple nod.

_Present Time_

Cosmo was quiet, he would have never guessed that Isis used to be a dragon, one of great power. It sounded like she one tough cookie to break.

"I think you know the rest," Isis whispered.

Cosmo closed his eyes, trying to picture what Isis went through. "I don't think I could have handled all of that."

"Cosmo," Isis looked up, then back down toward the ground. "Don't you get it?"

"Get what? You were . . . changed into a cat." Cosmo thought about the situation for a second, then continued. "I'm sure there can be something we can do to change you back to your original form."

"No Cosmo, that's just it. Don't you see?"

"Evidently, I don't."

"I wasn't a dragon either," Isis replied.


	22. Why the Sudden Change?

Chapter 22

Why The Sudden Change?

Torch dug into the ground with his claws, determination in his eye. He knew this had to be it. There had to be some sort of basement under his own home that he didn't know about until recently. But the same question came through his mind, time after time again. What was so important in this place that a ghost would leave them clues about it?

He had already figured out what happened to the original house. Some sort of accident must have happened and the house got caught on fire, burning it to the ground along with everything and . . . anyone who was inside.

Torch was already a good three feet deep into the ground. He guessed the basement must have been somewhere around six to ten feet deep but wasn't sure. It could have been deeper for all he knew. Once he found it, he was going to have to make an entrance and pray that everything wouldn't cave in on top of him.

"Still working at it?"

Torch knew it was Micha but couldn't see her. He was bent down, head submerged, digging. "How long has it been?" Micha looked over at the pile of dirt beside Torch's hole then looked back at Torch.

"Almost an hour," Micha replied. "Water?"

Now that Torch thought about it he was a bit parched. "Yeah, thanks."

Torch pulled himself out of the hole to see Micha holding a glass of water. Micha handed the glass over and Torch took a swallow of it.

Torch drunk the whole glass in only a minute, then quietly handed the glass back to Micha.

"Tired?" Micha asked, accepting the glass from Torch.

"No, not really," Torch sighed. "Kind of."

"Take a break then."

"Can't," Torch jumped back into his hole and continued digging.

"Why not?" Micha looked in surprise for a moment.

"Gotta get this done, the sooner the better," Torch's voice sounded more quieter now that he was in the hole.

Micha sighed, "Alright, but if you get tired then I would want you to stop."

"Alright." Torch slung some dirt up beside him.

Micha watched for a few seconds, then made her way back around the corner of the house.

She walked inside into the kitchen, and set the glass on the shelf beside the sink to wash later. She looked behind her, to see the window was still boarded up.

"Oh, forgot about that," Micha said to herself.

Micha walked back outside, and rounded the corner to where Torch was. She looked down the hole, seeing that Torch was still digging.

"Torch, what are we going to do about the window?"

"Window? What are you talking about?" Torch stopped digging to try to remember.

"The boarded up window," Micha reminded.

Torch shrugged his shoulders, "I forgot about it. There's a carpenter dragon in the market that helps with windows. I'll have to go see him sometime."

"And when is sometime?" Micha unfolded her wings.

"I don't know," Torch admitted.

"Then I'll go see him," Micha replied, bending her legs.

"Just bring him over here so he can inspect it then," Torch quickly said.

Micha jumped into the air, and the last Torch heard of her was the flapping of her wings. He didn't want her to go, but there wasn't any use in arguing with her. She could be stubborn at some points. So Torch continued digging.

_Behind Cynder's Home_

"You're what?" Cosmo exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yes Cosmo, it's true," Isis softly replied. "It happened to me eight months ago."

The trees around Cosmo swayed with the warm breeze and the sound of a woodpecker pecking against a tree. Cosmo stood in his spot as Isis continued.

"I was just like you Cosmo. I woke up, shocked and confused in a forest on the outskirts of this city. I was a human, just like you Cosmo."

Cosmo looked down at the cat, trying to picture what it must have been like. Isis used to be a human, then woke up one morning as a dragon, just like Cosmo. She went on with her life for eight months, then was transformed into a cat. From human, to dragon, to cat.

"How old are you," Cosmo asked.

Isis looked up, "You mean, how old was I before I changed?"

Cosmo nodded, "Yeah."

Isis answered a second later, "Eighteen years old. You?"

Cosmo scratched his head with his left claw, "Eighteen."

Isis looked back down in thought, "Coincidence?" She said.

"Most likely. So you could breathe elements?"

"Used to," Isis sighed.

"How long did it take you to use any element?" Cosmo hoped for a good answer.

Isis thought back then frowned, "I don't know, three, four months?"

"That long?" Cosmo sounded disappointed in the answer. He sighed and was in thought for a moment. Isis looked at Cosmo, then looked down at her paws. A second later, Cosmo continued, "Could you teach me something?"

Isis looked up with a surprised look on her furry face, "Are . . . you serious?"

Cosmo nodded with a grin, "It sure would help me a lot."

Isis didn't answer until a few seconds passed, "But . . . how can I teach you? I'm just a useless cat, I can't breathe any element anymore."

"Hey," Cosmo walked closer to Isis. "You aren't useless. If it wasn't for you, I would have never gotten out of that forest."

"Yeah but, that was different," Isis replied.

"Not in my eyes," Cosmo comforted.

Isis looked out in the distance, she just noticed that she was sitting on a hill. This hill was filled with rocks and tan looking sand. There wasn't as many trees in this particular area either. These trees were more taller than wide too, there were plenty of gaps up above her where the sun could shine through. But for right now, the sun was covered by overcast weather. It looked like it could rain later on in the day.

Isis looked up at Cosmo, and her frown was gone, replaced by confidence. "Okay, I'll do my best."

Cosmo smiled, "That's all I ask of you."

_Meanwhile_

_Warfang Elder Hall_

Shivertail sat behind his fancy looking desk, reading a small book entitled, _Origins, _in his office. His office was more tall than big, a small, long golden chandelier hung overhead and some bookcases sat toward his right on the wall. On the wall to his left sat a few open chairs for visiting dragons to sit. The carpet under Shivertail was specially made for him, and soft. A painting hung over the chairs on his left, it showed Shivertail standing beside another dragon the same size as him. Behind Shivertail was his window, he would look out of it all the time to see the front street. There would usually be many dragons walking on it, but he only saw the overcast weather.

Shivertail was just about to turn to the next page in his book, when his office door swung open. Shivertail looked up, startled by the sudden noise. A white dragon, the same size as Shivertail, was panting.

"Felenia? What is the matter?"

Felenia was white-scaled with a tan underbelly. She had gray horns which curved back, almost forming a circle. Her eyes were blue, and her snout was thin. Her paws were bigger than average, and her tail was normal size. It ended in a dull, darker white, point. Her spine was decorated with fur instead of the triangular spines you would usually see.

"The egg!"

Shivertail stood up from his desk and paced over to Felenia. "What of it?"

"It's hatching!" Felenia exclaimed.

Shivertail seemed frozen for a moment, then nodded, "Right, I'll go see to it. Meanwhile, you go tell Spyro about the egg." Shivertail turned around and quickly dug through some drawers in his desk. He pulled out a folded piece of paper then handed it to Felenia. "This is where Spyro lives. If he isn't there, check Cynder's. Her house is also marked."

Felenia accepted the item and quickly disappeared from sight.

Shivertail began his way down the hall himself, then said to himself, "Now, let's see what exactly who or what you are."

_Approximately Twenty Minutes Later_

"Hey Spyro, have you seen Cosmo?" Cynder asked from the kitchen.

Spyro was sitting back on the couch, Cynder broke his thoughts. "Haven't seen him in thirty minutes, I think."

"Great," Cynder muttered. "Why can't he stay inside for once?"

Spyro stayed quiet, trying to remember where he heard the name, Isis. After a few moments, he remembered. Isis was the fur dragon that was with him last week. The fur dragon who could use plasma and water, and skillfully too. Was there some connection between Isis the dragon and Isis the cat? Or was it just coincidence that they were both had the same name. The only way he could figure that out, is if he asked.

Then there was a knock on the door. Spyro stayed in place thinking Cynder would answer the door so he wouldn't have to get up. But his plan had went bad.

"Spyro, can you get it?" Cynder called from her bedroom.

"Yeah, sure." Spyro forced himself up off his spot on the couch and made his way to the door behind him. Spyro stretched his wings as he felt a cramp, then closed them back as he opened the door. A white dragon with a tan underbelly stood in place.

"Spyro, my name is Felenia. I was sent by Shivertail to tell you and Cynder that the egg you brought to him is hatching."

"Hatching? Really?" Spyro said in surprise. "Cynder! Come here!"

"What?" Cynder went, sounding frustrated. She emerged from her bedroom and looked over at the door, seeing the white dragon in the process. "Who are you?"

"I'm Felenia, sent by Shivertail. The egg you and Spyro found is hatching." Felenia anxiously indicated.

Spyro looked at the clock beside the fireplace. "How long ago was this?"

"Twenty minutes, maybe more," Felenia answered.

"Meaning," Cynder began, looking at the clock herself. It was half past one. "The egg has most likely hatched by now."

"Then we should get going then," Spyro replied in a happy tone.

Cynder looked back at Spyro, "But what about Cosmo?"

"He'll be fine. Besides, the cat has gone missing too, so Cosmo is most likely with it."

"The cat has a name," Cynder growled. "Remember?"

"It's Isis, I know. Let's get going."

_Meanwhile_

A red scaled dragon sat on the grass, looking up at a boarded up window. The dragon had the urge to look to his left, so he did. He spotted a hole leading under the house with a pile of dirt beside it. Curious, the dragon made his way to the hole and looked down it. It looked about five feet deep from his perspective. The dragon shook his head and went back to his spot and looked up at the boarded up window. He studied the size of it, then made his way around the corner, and into the house.

Micha looked at the dragon, he had a golden underbelly and curved horns. The dragon walked up to the window, looked at it for a few moments, then turned to Micha.

"It shouldn't be a problem. I'll get a crew out here in an hour to replace your window." The red dragon said. His voice sounded dull and boring.

"How much will it cost?" Micha sighed, hoping for a low number.

The dragon looked back at the window then back at Micha, "Judging by the size, it will be about two hundred."

Micha nodded with a frown of disappointment. "Alright."

The red dragon eyed the kitchen for a quick moment before taking his leave. When he left, Micha walked into the living room and looked to her right where the couches, rocking chairs, and the fireplace was. Torch was sitting on his chair, drinking a glass of orange juice.

"It's going to be about two hundred," Micha reported.

"I heard," Torch replied then took a sip of his drink.

"Do you have that much?"

"Yeah, I think."

Micha rolled her eyes, "What do you mean, you think?"

"If I don't have enough I can just put the bill on charge then pay it off later. I can ask my relatives for money." Torch replied, not sounding the least bit worried.

"Ask for money? You know what, whatever, I don't care." Micha replied.

Torch watched Micha stomp her way back into the kitchen, then heard the sound of the faucet running. Torch looked down at his half full glass of orange juice, then drunk the rest of it within seconds. He stood up off the couch and made his way into the kitchen with his empty glass just as Micha turned off the faucet. She turned and saw Torch's empty glass.

"Trying to get me to wash it? Too bad, I'm already finished washing the dishes so you'll have to do it," Micha quipped.

Torch said nothing, but he acted instead. He walked over to Micha, set his glass down on the counter beside the sink, then locked lips with her.

Micha was surprised by the sudden affection, but returned the favor, savoring the moment. Torch seemed to always be serious about everything.

When Torch pulled away, he smiled and said, "I've been a jerk lately, I'm sorry."

"A jerk? No you haven't, what makes you think that?"

"I haven't been spending time with the one I love lately. I've been distant from you, but not anymore."

Micha slowly turned into a smirk, "Torch . . . you haven't been distant. You've been protective and caring. Why the sudden change?"

Torch looked down for a moment, then place a paw on Micha's. "I don't know. Is there something wrong with showing you that I love you?"

Micha looked into Torch's red eyes and said, "No, there isn't."

"Besides, it's been a while since I last kissed you anyways."

Micha laughed for a short second, "I guess that's true."

Torch smiled. He didn't know whether to return to his work outside, or be with Micha now. He knew he need to get that hole dug, but he also wanted to be with Micha. So he followed his heart and stayed in with Micha for a change.

_Meanwhile_

"I felt it Isis! I felt fire in me!" Cosmo exclaimed.

The two of them still sat in their place in the woods, on that same hill. The overcast weather seemed to be the same, and the warm breeze still blew as the treetops rocked in motion.

"Good," Isis happily replied. "Now just release, let the fire out."

And so Cosmo concentrated like he did before. He thought about fire and only fire. Cosmo believed that he could do it and was rewarded with the same feeling as earlier. This time, he let it all out.

Cosmo opened his mouth and a second later, a small stream of fire erupted. It wasn't much, but it was a good start. The fire dissipated in the air, only a foot away from Cosmo's face.

"I did it!" Cosmo laughed. "I breathed actual fire!"

Just as Cosmo said that, a wet spot suddenly appeared on his snout. Cosmo wriggled his snout in response, then looked up.

"It's starting to drizzle," Isis indicated. "We should go on back."

Cosmo nodded in satisfaction. "Alright Isis. I guess you are right. I'm just glad that I can sort of breathe an element now."

Isis was actually shocked that Cosmo did what he did. She didn't expect him to breathe fire for another few days. Cosmo must have had it in him all along.

The two of them began walking downhill where Cynder's home was. The rocky ground soon turned into grass as they walked, and the drizzle of the rain began to slowly increase. As soon as they reached the backyard of Cynder's, the real rain began. Cosmo and Isis ran to the front door, Cosmo opened it for the two of them, then closed it back as he walked in. Isis's fur was wet and sticking up in a few places which made a smirk appear on Cosmo's face. Isis knew what he was thinking but didn't say anything.

Cosmo noticed that he was wet too and needed to dry himself. He made his way to the fireplace to see some firewood which looked as if it was used already. But it was still good for another hour tops. Now was the time to put his fire to good use.

"Cosmo, don't even think about it," Isis said as if she read his mind.

"Come on Isis, you're wet, I'm wet. We could use the fire."

"And you're also just learning to breathe fire. I don't want you taking the risk of something horrible going wrong and you end up burning the house down."

Cosmo growled then sighed, "Fine, I'll get Spyro. Spyro!"

Cosmo waited for a response but didn't hear one.

"No one is home," Isis rhetorically said.

Cosmo walked over to Cynder's bedroom and knocked on the door. When he heard no response, he turned the handle and slowly opened the door. He peeked inside and didn't see anyone. Cosmo walked inside and made his way to the bathroom on the far side of the room. The bathroom door was open making things easier, but he still didn't see anyone.

"If someone was home, don't you think they would have said something earlier?" Isis yelled from the living room.

Isis waited for the answer but didn't hear one. She waited, then Cosmo came back with a large white fuzzy towel in hand. He used the towel to dry himself and set the towel down on the floor for Isis.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" Isis asked.

Cosmo cocked an eye at her stupidity, "Dry yourself. What else?"

"But how am I supposed to . . . that towel is ten times bigger than me."

Cosmo noticed that himself. He bent over and retrieved the towel, then looked at Isis with the same smirk he had a moment ago. He opened the towel and slowly walked toward Isis.

Isis began taking a few steps back with a worried look on her face, "Wha- what are going to do with that?"

"I just . . . need to . . . dry you."

Isis backed up to the wall and had nowhere else to go. "No, stop! Get that towel away from me!"

"Behold the power of the towel!" Cosmo yelled as he threw the towel on top of Isis. Isis squirmed and tried to run, but Cosmo got a hold to her before she could escape. Cosmo smiled and began scrubbing Isis up and down.

"You are so, going to pay for this," Isis growled.


	23. Star the Dragon

Chapter 23

Star the Dragon

The city hall was quiet. A little too quiet for Cynders likings. Felenia led them down a narrow hall, decorated with a velvet red carpet on the floor, paintings on the walls along with a few other miscellaneous things, and a couple of small, tall, stone statues of a dragon in a sitting pose. The hall was also a little dark. There were no windows to let any sort of light in, so the ceiling was decorated with a long tube which illuminated a greenish light. Shivertail called them glowbranches, but she knew he was being sarcastic.

Finally, after many fast paced heartbeats, Felenia led them into a large room with many older, bigger, and taller dragons than Spyro and Cynder. Shivertail was one of them and he was near the front of the pack, looking down at something.

"Amazing," one dragon said sounding astonished.

"How is this possible?" another one said.

Spyro and Cynder made their way around the group of dragons with Felenia to see what they were talking about. The room they were in was clearly made for a toddler. Beside the door Spyro just entered was a bookcase, filled with books for toddlers. A toybox was on the left side of the room along with its own little play-mat in front of it. This red play-mat was large enough for four larger dragons to easily sit down on it. A window located next to the toybox where Spyro could see that it was raining. A crib was located on the other side of the window, backed up toward the northwestern corner of the room. Above the crib, dangled some childlike things like a flat green plastic fish, a flat orange plastic lion, and other animals you could find in the forest. There was a work desk on the north wall, Spyro guessed this was where Shivertail would work while he watched a toddler. A large white plushy bed was sitting next to the desk with its silky gray plain covers on top of it. There was also a fireplace on the west side of the room, which was where Shivertail was.

"Shivertail," Spyro said, giving attention to himself. "Is it a dragon?" Cynder sat next to him with Felenia behind them, wanting to see for herself.

Shivertail looked over his shoulder, "Yes, he is a dragon, but I most certainly wasn't expecting this."

"Expecting what? Show us," Cynder demanded.

Shivertail obeyed a moment later, and turned around to face Spyro and Cynder. He was holding a white cloth in his arms, and in that white cloth, a baby purple dragon soundlessly laid.

Spyro walked to the baby dragon to have a closer look. The baby dragon's eyes were shut as Spyro looked him from horn to tail. Purple scales, orange wings, and a yellow underbelly, this dragon nearly looked like Spyro himself. Spyro didn't notice that Cynder was looking over his shoulder.

"How is this possible?" Spyro asked, sounding a bit unhappy.

"I don't know," Shivertail replied, not taking his eyes off the baby dragon. Spyro spotted a place behind Shivertail where Spanish Moss laid. On the moss was bits and pieces of the black shell the baby dragon came out of. Then he set his eyes back on the baby dragon. "The purple dragon is only meant to be born once every ten generations, so why how this event occurred I'll never know. But one thing is for certain, something is happening here. Something is taking place that we haven't spotted yet. So if anyone learns something of what is going on, I want you to report to me immediately."

The crowd of dragons agreed in unison.

Shivertail continued, "I'll keep the baby here, he will be safe. I want everyone to keep quiet of what has happened here and what is going on. I don't want to city to learn of these events, mainly because it would end up in the city becoming worried, they'll think the wrong things, do the wrong things, and act the wrong way." Shivertail was quiet for a few seconds before continuing, "Eventually the city will know, I just don't want them to know right now."

"I understand," Spyro added.

"Yeah, ditto," Cynder nodded.

"Good. Now is there anyone here who knows what to do with a baby? Because I really don't know."

Cynder put a paw over her mouth to prevent Shivertail from seeing her smirk.

"I have experience," Felenia volunteered, stepping forward. "I will take care of him as if he were my own."

Shivertail showed a little smile and nodded, "Alright Felenia, you may take care of him."

"What about his name?" Cynder blurted.

"Name?" Shivertail muttered.

"Well everyone needs a name," Cynder replied sounding offended. She looked around the room of dragons to see everyone nodding in approval.

"Of course, of course," Shivertail waved. "Any suggestions?"

"Draco!" Someone nearly yelled.

"No, he doesn't look like a Draco. I picture a Draco to be a red dragon, he's purple."

"How about Grapes?" Someone else suggested.

"Grapes? What kind of ridiculous name is that? I won't call this dragon Grapes."

"Star," Felenia calmly said. "He fell from the stars, so let us call him Star."

"Hmm, Star the dragon." Shivertail carefully made his way toward Felenia, baby in arms. He slowly handed the baby over to Felenia, which she accepted with a smile. "Sounds good Felenia."

"Star," Cynder repeated, looking at the baby herself. "I like it."

"Me too," Spyro inquired. "It's a good name Felenia."

"Thank you," Felenia ever so slightly bowed with the same smile.

Shivertail had an urge to smile himself, instead he turned to the crowd behind him. "Alright everyone, back to your posts."

One by one the dragons left, making the room seem even bigger than before. When everyone left, Spyro finally noticed how high the ceiling was. It was actually quite high with a small golden chandelier like Shivertail had in his office.

Spyro turned back toward Cynder to see her looking at the baby dragon Felenia was holding. Shivertail was standing at the unlit fireplace looking at them from his spot.

"Spyro, did you ever find your friend?" Shivertail asked, worried as he remembered.

Spyro took a moment to realize what he was talking about, "Oh yeah, we did, but it was more like he found he us." He wanted to keep the human that told him where Cosmo was, a secret for the time being. He didn't know how Shivertail would react at the news of a human in the city.

Shivertail hung his head low, mad at himself but didn't show it in his voice. He showed more of a relieved voice, "Good, I apologize for acting the way I did. I was . . . made to do it."

"Made to?" Cynder butted in. She turned her head to look at him in the eyes.

"A dark dragon threatened to kill anyone who got in his way, so I had to make you leave. This dragon acted as if he were after something." Shivertail stopped to look up at Star. "He could have been after Star, but I'm not sure."

"Wait, someone is after Star?" Felenia frowned. She looked at Shivertail for a moment before looking back down at Star. It looked as if he was in a deep sleep, hardly disturbed by the conversation at hand, if at all,

"If you heard me earlier you would know that I don't know," Shivertail remarkably replied. Felenia looked offended for a short second before realizing what she actually asked. She still didn't seem happy at the news. Nobody was.

_Half An Hour Later_

Torch was always seemed as if he was busy over the past few days. Micha knew what he was doing when he wasn't in the house, outside digging that hole he had been digging all day. He stayed with her for a few short moments before slipping back outside. Even when it was raining he stayed outside. Micha wanted that carpenter to repair the window today, but she guessed he wouldn't be able to now that it was raining.

Twenty minutes later, the rain began to slack up. Micha took advantage of it and walked outside, took the right around the corner of the house, and spotted the hole Torch was digging in. When Micha peered inside, she became surprised.

Torch wasn't there.

The hole itself was now approximately six feet deep. A large pile of brown dirt sat next to the hole and the hole seemed to have a little bit of water in it.

Micha turned around and went back inside, thinking he was actually somewhere in the house. She searched every room downstairs and climbed the stairs to the second floor. She checked each room diligently, finding no sign of Torch.

She walked inside the last room where her ghostly visitor would appear, and waited out of curiosity. Since Torch had been digging, maybe the ghost would show himself again. So she sat down on the bed, and waited, and waited, and waited.

Soon she found herself lying down with her eyes shut from boredom. Then she fell into a peaceful sleep.

But her dream wasn't so peaceful.

Micha began dreaming that she was in her home, but she was little and at a young age. No one was in the house, so she made her way upstairs. She found that the stairs were longer than usual, but she guessed that was because she was little. When she made it to the second floor, she made her way into the last room on the right, the same exact room she fell asleep in her real life. There were a few differences in the room, such as the wallpaper and a toybox sitting near the window with a bookcase on the other side of the bed. But the weirdest thing in the room, was a pink dragon laying on the bed. It looked as if she was peacefully asleep. Then Micha realized something. That dragon was her own self.

Micha took a few steps back then began walking the other way. Then she a smell touched her snout. It smelled like something was burning. She made her way down the short hall and made her way down stairs, then she gasped.

The house was on fire.

Micha became scared but pushed on as she tried to find a way around the fire. She could see the fire burning everything, even the wallpaper looked as if it was melting off the wall. But that was it, there wasn't a way around it. The flames had spread too far, too quickly and her only choice was to flee back upstairs.

Micha ran upstairs as fast as she could and ran down the hall. The floor was getting hot now, she could feel it. Micha ran back into the room she was in to find out that the dragon on the bed was gone. Micha fled to the other side of the bed and looked out the window. She didn't see anyone in sight.

She pounded on the glass with her paws as hard as she could, but her child-like strength wasn't enough. Micha turned around and made her way to the corner, where she stayed until the fire engulfed her.

Then Micha woke up from her dreams. She stayed on the bed, motionless, finally knowing what had happened.

After a few minutes, Micha slowly stood to her feet and made her way back downstairs. Still not seeing any sign of Torch in the living room, she headed for the kitchen. She walked toward the fridge, opened it to retrieve a bottle of water, then shut the door. She was about to take a sip, when she noticed something.

The window she broke was now repaired with a new window in its place. The window was just like the old one, except it was newer looking. Micha put the water bottle on the counter beside her, walked toward the window and looked out of it to see a green dragon and Torch, having conversation. Torch handed over a small bag, then the green dragon waved as he jumped, and flapped his wings, taking his trip into the sky.

Torch watched him for a second before making his way around the corner and back inside, where he found Micha looking through the window.

"Oh, so you already know," Torch shut the door behind him.

"Was that where you were this whole time? In the market?" Micha asked as she looked through the glass.

"Yeah," Torch sighed. "I was hoping to surprise you but you've been too quick on me lately."

"I wouldn't worry," Micha assured, turning to face him. "You should that I am surprised."

Micha made her way back to the counter where she set the bottle of water she had earlier. Torch just stood and watched. Micha twisted to the top off and took a few swallows of water before closing the lid and putting it back in the fridge where it was.

"Do you mind if I go back and start digging again?" Torch spoke.

Micha groaned, "Yeah, it's your choice."

Torch only grinned in response as he opened the door and walked back outside. When Micha heard the door shut she said to herself, "Stupid dag nabbin basement."

Micha sighed and was at a slow pace into the living room.

_Meanwhile_

"C'mon Isis," Cosmo pleaded. "Can we please go back outside? It stopped raining hours ago."

Isis shook her head from her spot on the couch. She was curled up, dry, and comfortable. Cosmo acted just like an annoying child in her eyes. "No, not today. You've done enough for one day."

"But, I really wanna go outside," Cosmo grumbled.

"And I said no. We'll wait until tomorrow when it's dry out."

Cosmo started to sound aggravated, "Fine, I'll just go without you!"

Cosmo started to head toward the door when he heard, "Stop!" Cosmo turned to see Isis on the arm of the couch, staring at him. Cosmo began reaching for the door handle making Isis continue, "No, don't you . . . don't you do it! I'm warning you!"

Cosmo had his paw on the door handle as he stared at Isis like a determined dog chasing a car.

"Cosmo, don't you turn that knob!"

Cosmo did the opposite and turned the knob until the door came open, he began opening the door, hearing it squeak in the process.

"You better not go out that door! You hear me? Don't you dare walk out on me!"

Cosmo only continued by walked out the door, still staring at Isis in the eyes. When he was out, he began closing it.

"Don't you dare close that door! Cosmo, I mean it!"

The door was nearly shut when the last thing Cosmo heard before the door clicked was, "Who's gonna give me my milk!"

Satisfied the door was shut, Cosmo happily turned and looked at the street. It was filled with puddles of water here and there, and the cool breeze was blowing softly. The clouds still hovered overhead, but it wasn't the heavy rainclouds Cosmo saw earlier in the day.

"_Now what?_" Cosmo thought. Truthfully, he didn't really know why he walked out the door. Maybe because he enjoyed seeing Isis yell at him for the most stupendous things? But regardless, Cosmo sat down in the grass, just watching the clouds roll on by and feeling the cool breeze blowing against his face. Now that he liked.


	24. Torch's Find

Chapter 24

Torch's Find

_Somewhere in the Tathric Range_

Frederick closed the small mirror in his hand he held in front of him. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief. He saw the legendary dragon egg hatch and the dragon that was now named Star. He too, was confounded of how Star was a purple dragon. But he didn't think much of it as it looked out into the snowy mountains in front of him. The sun was setting making the view incredible, if you count out the many clouds that hung over the city in the distance.

He stood on the edge of a wall, still overlooking the mountains with a sudden drop beneath him. It was a good two hundred feet to the bottom of a crevice. It was as if he never even knew it was there for he was leaning over the edge to look down. He certainly wasn't afraid of heights one bit.

Frederick finally turned around to look upon a type of dojo. It had a green top made of tiles of different sizes and the walls were well put together with two layers of bricks. The reason why this was done was because of the harsh winters, one layer of bricks wouldn't work as well as they should. The twelve figured this out the hard way by going through an unforgiving winter with storm after storm. Frederick never asked questions, he knew better than to question any of his fellow warriors.

The dojo was his home along with the other eleven. There were three entrances, one in the middle front, one to the right of the front which led to a different room, and the other to the left of the middle entrance which led to another room.

The room on the left led to the sleeping quarters where twelve beds sat symmetrically to each other with its own average sized chest sat in front of the beds. Inside the chests were the bed-owners belongings, weapons, pictures, memories, it didn't matter. Each room had a fireplace which seemed to stay lit every day. The fireplace in this room was on the far side of the room, past all the beds, where a large wooden table was. This table was large enough for twelve chairs to sit around it. Above the fireplace was a shield with two small swords crossing over each other with the points pointing downwards. The shield had a symbol etched into it, the symbol had the head of a lion. Both, on the left side and right side of the lion head, was a hawk, grasping itself to a branch. The flooring of the room was made of hardwood. A thin, dark red, carpet covered it and torches hung on the walls all around the room. There were four black dressers, each having three drawers, holding the twelve's clothes. On the right side of the room, in between two beds, was a door which led into the dojo itself.

On the room to the right side of the dojo was the eating quarters, where the twelve would eat their meals. This room consisted of a large round wooden table with a smooth light red cloth in the middle of it with a candle on top of the cloth. There were cupboards which mostly consisted of the foods such as corn, watermelons, apples, and oranges. It would be hard to keep food which would easily go bad if kept in heat, but that was when the twelve used the weather to their advantage by storing the food outside in a secure cupboard. This cupboard always had icicles that seemed to never melt on it which was the perfect spot to store things such as meat and other fruits and vegetables that required to be kept in cold temperatures. The room had it's own small counter on the side with it's own compartments for keeping spices for the meat. The fireplace in this room was located on the other side of the table. This fireplace wasn't lit for the moment. Around the kitchen were several torches which could easily light up the room. To the left of the room was a door which led into the dojo itself.

The dojo was more open than the other two rooms. It contained four desks in all the corners of the room, with an open space in the middle with dummies to practice sparring with the use of the blade. There was also a block of wood hanging from the ceiling against the wall on the far side of the room where one could practice using the bow. A chandelier hung overhead in the middle of the room, this chandelier looked old and lost its luster for many years, but it still worked just as well as it did then. There were a few seats sitting off on both sides of the rooms, where the twelve could watch someone spar, chat, or just rest. The fireplace was on the northern side with a painting overhead of the dojo when it was still being built. Around the dojo walls stood several large cupboards and torches. The twelve used the cupboards to store their armor and weapons. There was one feature the whole dojo had, it didn't have any windows. It was possible for a blizzard to come through, crack and even make the windows break, and let all the cold air inside. Which was why there wasn't any windows.

Frederick was still standing on the wall surrounding the dojo, looking down into the small courtyard below him. There was also another spot two people could spar, just like in the dojo. These people wore regular clothing instead of the light armor that Frederick wore, and they were practicing with shortswords. Around the dojo was a garden where flowers grew. However these were no ordinary flowers, these are flowers that can survive through a blizzard with ease. Frederick didn't know what they were called, but the flowers where snow white and had five petals.

The courtyard was open, it consisted of the sparring grounds Frederick was looking at, the garden beside the sparring grounds , and the stairs on the other side of the courtyard, which led up to the indoor dojo. If you continued up the stairs, you would be going to the top of the wall, which was where Frederick was. He was equipped with his longsword and a dark fur cloak to keep himself warm. He wore his light armor underneath.

He looked down at the sparring grounds and shouted, "Hey Isaac! Is it getting cold yet?"

The young man in a gray tunic looked up at Frederick. "No Frederick, don't you know that I like the cold?"

Isaac had more of a laughable personality, he loved a good laugh but became serious at a moments notice. His hair was a golden color and it was shorter than average. His eyes were pale blue and it didn't looked as if he could lift a battle axe to save his life. But he could do it with ease which questioned on why his arms were so small. He wore brown boots and white, loose fitting pants under his gray tunic.

The one he was sparring with was a she. Her name was Rita and she was deadly with the blade and bow alike. She could take out a target with the bow without even flinching at the distance of a hundred yards. It was quite impressive.

She wore a blue tunic with black light legging armor underneath. She wore doeskinned boots, which she made herself. She took everything seriously and seemed to understand everyone just fine. She had more courage than it looked. She was a bit taller than Isaac, but Isaac was short too. She was skilled in the shortsword but she picked up a longsword a few times in her days. Her black hair came down to the base of her neck and was often seen wearing her blue tunic around the dojo grounds. She too seem unaffected by the forty degree weather.

Frederick chuckled as he watched the two of them spar then remembered what he saw in his mirror. Star the dragon being born. He had to tell his leader, Aruto about the news.

Aruto was older than everyone else of the twelve and was often seen spending his day in the dojo building. He was the leader of the twelve and was skilled in both, the shortsword and the longsword. He had skills in the longbow, but he didn't use it much. Aruto showed a serious personality nearly all the time. It was only when he had a few more drops of ale than what he was supposed to was when he was hilarious. Isaac loved it when that happened. Aruto's black hair came down a little below the base of his neck and his eyes were green. He had a thick dark grayish mustache along with his dark grayish beard. It didn't hang at all, it was more like a thick fuzz on his chin.

Frederick made his way along the wall to the stairs and made his way down into the dojo. He slid the door open then slid it back shut as he entered. Inside were a few more of his fellow knightsman, talking, practicing, and just enjoying each other's company. In the far right corner of the room, behind the desk was Aruto. Frederick made his way to the desk, staying clear of the practice session the dojo grounds, and stopped in front of the desk.

"Frederick," Aruto greeted, his voice had a deep sound to it. "I was getting to wonder where you went off to. Any news from the city?"

"I do."

"Well then let me hear it, chip chop now."

"The dragon has hatched Aruto, the dragon that fell from the heavens has hatched. However I was surprised myself when I saw him. They named the dragon Star, and Star is a purple dragon."

Aruto looked down at his desk and said without looking back up, "That's not possible." He sounded very calm about it. "A purple dragon is born once every ten generations, you know that as well as I do."

Frederick placed both his hands on the desk in front of him, "But, Aruto, I saw him through the mirror. He is a purple dragon."

Aruto opened one of the drawers in his desk and dug inside it, "No Frederick, I'm afraid that you are wrong. Star isn't a purple dragon, he may look like it now, but he is something much different than what you see."

Frederick looked as if he was about to protest until Aruto laid a book on his desk. The book didn't have a title, the cover was only a black shadow.

Aruto's voice seemed a bit quieter, "Have you ever heard of the spirit guardians? They are supposed to be ancient dragons from an era way before this time of ours. The ancient dragons were powerful and there were six of them in all. I've heard reports of large dragons appearing and disappearing recently in the city. I have reason to believe that these dragons are the ancient dragons from the era before ours. I have only heard of a black dragon, and a green dragon appearing. So far, I've learned that the green dragon has something to do with luck while the black dragon has something to do with death. Seeing a green dragon means you will have inhumane luck for a while, while the black dragon means that either you, or someone you know will die. This book however, tells of the past. It tells of six dragons, black, green, white, yellow, pink and red. According to this book, it tells us of what these dragons meant. I already told you of green and black. Red meant that something terrible would happen to them, an injury, losing a job, it varied. The yellow dragon mean they would find riches, and the pink dragon meant that they would find love. These dragons tell your future and if you're lucky enough, they could tell you by showing themselves."

Frederick soaked in the info that he was just given then asked in the same quiet tone as Aruto, "What about the white dragon, what does he mean?"

Aruto frowned, "The white dragon, is a mystery." Aruto opened the book he had and flipped through a few pages. "As you can see, this page is missing."

Frederick took a look himself. In the crevice of the book he could see pieces of paper still attached to the spine of the book, just like it would look as if someone torn a page out.

"It was like that when I acquired this book," Aruto continued. "I don't know who done it."

Frederick was silent for a moment, hearing the sound of sword against wood for a few moments then asked, "What about Star? What of him?"

Aruto flipped through a few pages in his book and stopped, "Star is a special dragon. Myths say that a dragon was born a very long time ago in a different era, the same era of the six spirit dragons. This dragon was born by the spirit guardians and led out into the world to save it from the darkness that was spreading. This dragon was unique, according to this book, he contained all the colors of the rainbow. I thought this book was just a story, but from the recent events in the city, it made me think otherwise."

"Wait, so are you saying that this dragon can change colors?"

"Aye, that is exactly what I am saying."

"Amazing," Frederick muttered. "I need to see this dragon myself."

"No, I can't let you do that. The dragon's still thinks of us as enemies. But I do have an errand for you to do for me."

Frederick seemed more lively as he stood up straight, ready to hear it. "Alright, let's hear it."

Aruto placed his book back in the drawer where it was then said with the same quiet tone he had. "I want you to go back to Warfang and find Spyro. I want you to tell him what I just told you. He most likely thinks that Star is a purple dragon so I want you to tell him the truth about Star. If Star has been born, then something is amidst in the city."

"Anything else?" Frederick asked.

"That will be all, you may leave when you are fully prepared."

_Meanwhile_

Spyro and Cynder sat in Shivertail's quarters, discussing about Star. No one knew why there was another purple dragon but it must have meant that something wasn't just right. Something was happening right under their snouts and they haven't sniffed it out yet. Spyro and Cynder were standing in front of Shivertail's desk while Shivertail sat in his chair behind his desk.

"I don't know why there is another purple dragon," Shivertail said, obviously aggravated at the question. "If a purple dragon is only born once every ten generations then our timetables have been twisted. But I doubt that, something about this dragon is different."

"Different as in?" Cynder began.

"The egg fell from the sky and survived. An egg has never survived something like that."

"Well, I don't know," Spyro shrugged. "I'm out of ideas, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how patience can play out."

"Yeah, I think this question is going to take time to answer," Cynder added.

"Well, you're right there," Shivertail said in agreement. "We'll keep Star here, if you two want to see him, you're welcome to come here anytime you wish. Like I said earlier, keep it a secret from the citizens, that means you do not, under any circumstances, tell any of your friends about this."

"Alright," Spyro nodded, then he turned to Cynder. "You ready to go home? I'm starved."

Cynder sighed, "Alright I guess. But I want to see Star again tomorrow."

Spyro chuckled, "I'll carry you if I have to."

The two of them made their way out into the hallway, leaving Shivertail's door open in case anyone needed to see him. They made their way down the hall and eventually found their way outside, where the two took to the sky.

As they made their way back home, the sun was nearly out of sight and the moon began to show itself through the cracks of clouds. The city seemed quiet and empty underneath them as they flew. It always seemed as if things were too quiet since the storm. Something Spyro wasn't used to.

When they arrived back home, they found Cosmo near the front door, looking up into the sky. He noticed Spyro and Cynder but didn't pay much attention to them as they softly landed a few feet in front of him. Spyro didn't notice the puddles of water until he landed in one.

"Gah, you're kidding me," Spyro looked at his paws. They were dripping with cold water. Cynder shook her head with a short smile then turned her head to Cosmo.

"Hey Cosmo. What are you up to?" Cynder asked, feeling a chill in the breeze.

Cosmo looked at Cynder for only a second before returning his gaze back up to the sky. He spoke with a quiet voice, "Well, I was trying to see the stars but there's a few clouds blocking my view." Cosmo sighed then continued, "Well, at least I can see the moon tonight."

Cynder walked closely beside Cosmo then sat down beside him. She looked up at the bright moon herself. "It looks beautiful tonight."

"It does," Cosmo replied with the same quiet voice. "I wished it was like this all the time."

Cynder looked back down at Spyro, seeing him shaking his paws dry one by one. She then returned her sight to the beauty overhead. "I see a few stars trying to twinkle through the clouds too."

Cosmo saw those stars himself, then looked back down. He noticed how close Cynder sat beside him. She was close to the point where he could smell her feminine aroma. Cosmo was dumbstruck, he didn't know whether to move, or stay in his place. She did smell nice, which made Cosmo worry about himself.

Finally Cosmo decided to stand to his feet, "Well, I guess I'll get back inside. Isis is probably waiting for me."

"Okay," Cynder smiled, keeping her sight on the few showing stars.

When Cosmo walked inside he immediately shut the door behind himself. "_What is wrong with me? Was I really thinking about . . ._"

Cosmo's thoughts was interrupted when he felt something brush up against his feet. Cosmo looked down and saw Isis, sitting down right in front of him with a plain, dull look on her face.

"Oh, hey Isis. What's up?"

"What's up? I'll tell you what's up, I'm hungry, that is what's up. And you've been gone for hours. That's all that's up."

"Actually, I've only been gone for ten minutes. And I really wasn't gone, I was on the front doorstep. You could have come out and told me something."

"How was I supposed to open the door?" Isis huffed.

Cosmo slapped a paw to his forehead, "Oh yeah! I'm sorry, what did you need?"

"Food please."

"Alright, alright," Cosmo began walking toward the kitchen.

"And bring me some milk!"

_Meanwhile_

"Torch, it's getting dark out and you've been digging all day. Aren't you tired?" Micha asked with her back against the wall. She stood beside the hole, looking at Torch. He was pretty deep, the hole was about eight feet deep now. She looked up at the large pile of dirt beside the hole then back down at Torch.

"Almost Micha, there can't be too much more to go," Torch replied. Micha barely heard him.

Micha was about to say something until some dirt flew up and out of the hole. She peered down into the hole again then leaned back up against the wall behind her. "Besides, dinner is ready."

"Oh, okay Micha I'll be inside in a little bit."

Micha stayed a few more minutes to actually see if Torch was going to go inside. But he kept his pace at digging like he forgotten about dinner as soon as he was told. Then Micha's stomach growled. She looked down at Torch, then walked back inside her home to eat. If Torch was hungry, then he'll remember about dinner being ready.

Time passed, Micha finished her meat and she was in relaxing in the living room in the recliner chair. It was a bit cold inside for the fireplace wasn't lit, but Micha didn't even notice. She only sat, waiting to hear the door open and Torch walk in.

Meanwhile, Torch was only thinking of digging, blocking everything else from his mind. He was clearly determined to find out the truth. Until he heard the sound of his claws raking against something hard.

Torch's heart skipped a beat. He squinted as he looked, trying to see what he hit. But he couldn't see. So Torch let out a small enough flame just light up the spot in front of him. He found out what it was, then his flame stopped.

It was wood with a scratch mark on it from where he raked it by mistake.

Torch showed a smile and jumped out of hole. He immediately ran inside.

Micha was growing bored, until she heard the door open. She grinned as she stood to her feet. Finally, Torch decided to come and eat. When she entered the kitchen, Torch was still standing at the door.

"Micha! I found it! I found the basement!"

"You found it?" Micha sighed. "Aren't you gonna eat first?"

"I'll eat later," Torch responded. "You gotta come see!"

Micha forced herself to follow Torch back to the hole. She clearly wasn't interested in the secret basement and only thought of it as an setback for her and Torch. When she made it to the hole, Torch assured her to go inside it and take a look. So she did, but was even more disappointed.

"See what?" Micha grumbled. "I can't see anything, it's too dark. Can't I just look at it in the morning?"

"It's okay, just make a little flame and you'll see," Torch excitedly suggested.

Micha sighed and did what she was told. She let out a small stream of fire, enough to light up the hole, then only saw wood under her feet. She let her flame go, making the hole dark again, then jumped back up where Torch waited.

"What did I tell ya huh?" Torch smirked.

"It's . . . great Torch. Now come on inside, we'll finish in the morning."

"Okay, I can't wait to see what's in there."

"Neither can I," Micha expressionlessly replied.


	25. In the Basement

Managed to update, I already have the next few chapters done and I was on the net so I decided to update. Figured all of you had waited long enough. To the reviewer who asked about Ignitus being the chronicler, you'll have to wait and see. Thanks for the reviews everyone. Enjoy the chapter and apoligies for the waiting. I might be able to update some more next week, might.

Chapter 25

In the Basement

Spyro leaped up, avoiding an attack that threatened to cut his legs to shreds. When he landed, he countered the human with a quick slash across the throat. Blood was pouring out of his throat as he fell to the ground, gurgling words of another language.

This battle wasn't going too well. Too many dragons had already fallen to the merciless onslaught of the humans. Why they were in Warfang was a mystery, other that they wanted the dragons dead.

Spyro ran down a thin paved road. Nearly everywhere he looked, there was signs of battle. Either bodies or blood stains covered the ground, something that always made Spyro nearly hurl. He wasn't used to this kind of thing, especially with the smell of death in the air. The sun was beginning to rise but it would make much of a difference now.

Isis. Spyro didn't know where she went, he only hoped she was safe. When he woke up from being knocked out by that magician, she was nowhere to be seen. He thought the battle had taken her elsewhere so he continued on, hoping for a miracle. But he saw another battle ahead in the road. Humans against dragons again.

The humans seemed to have the upper-hand, Spyro saw more of them than dragons. He rushed over to assist them, then stopped in the road when he saw an enemy gazing at him. This human was big. He was equipped with a warhammer the size of a child and he had heavy looking black armor on nearly everywhere. His helmet was also black with ugly looking horns sticking out the top of it. He was protected everywhere. Spyro huffed in a gasp of air and stood tall, showing that he wasn't afraid of what stood before him.

The human frowned, then swung.

Spyro saw it coming and jumped back without taking his eyes off the enemy. Then Spyro noticed a flaw, the human's heavy armor was slowing him down.

Spyro saw his chance and charged without hesitation. The human saw the dragon with his horns down, then hoped to stop him with a horizontal swing. There wasn't going to be enough time for Spyro to attack, making Spyro evade to the side. The giant warhammer struck the ground, making the cement around it crack. If Spyro was hit by something like that, he wouldn't have had another chance.

No more fooling around, Spyro took Isis's advice on metal being a good conductor, and readied himself to give his enemy a dose of electricity. When the human finally picked up his warhammer, Spyro fired.

Electricity shot out his mouth and struck the human, sending volts through his body. But something wasn't right, the human was smiling like it wasn't even affecting him.

Spyro fired again. The electricity arced to the human, then hit. The human merely stumbled back a step, but recovered as if nothing had happened. Then Spyro noticed something. The humans armor rippled when Spyro's attack hit.

"As you can see, my armor protects me from your pathetic attacks," the human said with an evil grin on his face.

Spyro growled but didn't say a word. The armor must have been enchanted for it to be able to resist Spyro's electricity.

The human didn't give Spyro the time to ponder, attempting to strike him with his hammer. Spyro was too quick for him though, the warhammer must have weighed a ton for him to be swinging it so slowly. The human was growing cocky, something Spyro needed.

The human turned to face the dragon but the dragon was nowhere to be seen. The human looked around himself, then looked up. Spyro hovered over his head, then dropped. Spyro landed on the enemy making him drop his hammer to the ground along with himself. The human found himself on the ground, with a dragon snarling in his face on top of him.

The human struggled but with a dragon on him along with the heavy armor, he couldn't move.

Seeing his chance, Spyro swiped at the human's helmet knocking it off and exposing the human's head. But suddenly Spyro's chest was kicked and he was knocked off the human. The human somehow managed to kick Spyro back and stood back up to his feet. Without hesitation, he picked up his hammer and horizontally swung.

Spyro closed his eyes, not believing what was happening. But death never came. Spyro only heard the sound of something colliding against the human. Spyro opened his eyes and looked forward. The human was on the ground, obviously dead.

Spyro stood to his feet, one paw on his chest for a short moment then looked around himself. The battle on the street, it was over. Dragon's stood and the humans fell. But how was it possible? Spyro seen how outnumbered the dragons were. Then he saw how it was possible. A large dragon, bigger than all the others, was amidst them.

"Terrador!" Spyro exclaimed, surprised and glad. He ran over to him the best he could.

"Spyro, it's good to see you're still in one piece. You should be more careful around enemies like that. I might no be there to help you next time," Terrador said with a tired accent.

"What's going on? Why are these humans attacking us?" Spyro asked as he stopped in front of Terrador.

"I do not know, but we have to stop them. We cannot let Warfang fall."

"I know," Spyro replied. "Cynder, have you seen her?"

Terrador closed his eyes, "No, I'm sorry Spyro but I haven't."

_Cynder's Home, Present Time_

Spyro woke up from his dreams to a sound he heard outside. It sounded like knocking, or rattling.

He looked next to himself, seeing Cynder sleeping beside him in the bedroom. Spyro stayed up for a moment before hearing the same noise again. A knocking. It sounded as if it was coming from the living room. Then Spyro heard the front door creak open. He thought it was Cosmo, but he decided to check to make sure.

Spyro carefully got out of bed, making sure that Cynder wouldn't wake up. He made his way around the bed and to the door and peeked into the living room. He saw Cosmo standing at the front door, which was open. He was talking to someone.

"Oh, you want Spyro?" Cosmo said, still half asleep. He sounded as if he was disappointed.

"Who wants me?" Spyro asked in a low tone. He saw Isis sleeping on a pillow in front of the fireplace which wasn't lit at the moment.

"I do."

Spyro walked to the side of Cosmo and looked out the front door to see Frederick. He was wearing the same cloak he had on last time they saw each other. "Frederick? What are you doing here so late?"

"I came to deliver some news." Frederick replied. He seemed to be wide awake and persistent. "I have to tell you about Star."

"Star? Have you seen him already?" Spyro asked.

"Who's Star?" Cosmo added.

"I would like to know as well."

Cosmo looked behind himself and spotted Isis, sitting on the floor as if she had been there for a while.

"Did that cat just . . ." Frederick began, confounded on what he witnessed.

"Yeah, she talks," Spyro answered with a short smile. "I was surprised myself."

"More like scared," Cosmo smirked but was hit on the shoulder by Spyro. Cosmo rubbed the spot for a moment. "Can't take a joke?"

Spyro rolled his eyes then said, "Whatever. What did you need to tell us Frederick?"

"I've been told to tell you that Star isn't a purple dragon." Frederick saw Spyro about to say something but quickly continued. "The reason is because this dragon is special in his own way. He has the ability to change the color of his scales to any color he desires. Do you know about the spirit guardians? You may have heard news of dragons appearing and disappearing out of thin air and the next day, the being who saw it, would have incredible luck, or die?"

"I believe I have heard something about that," Spyro responded then shrugged. "So they are called spirit guardians?"

"Yes, there are six different guardians. If you saw the green guardian then you would have abnormal luck. Then there is the yellow guardian, seeing him would mean that you would become rich with wealth. The pink guardian would mean love. The red guardian indicated that you will have an accident. Injuries maybe. The black dragon means that someone you know will die."

Cosmo was especially interested in this. He was waiting to hear about the white dragon mostly, but Spyro said, "Sounds like seeing a black or red dragon is bad."

"What about the white dragon?" Cosmo interrupted. "What does it mean?"

Frederick bowed his head then looked back at Cosmo, "I don't know, but I assume that you have seen him."

"What?" Spyro went. "You saw one of them?"

"How did you know?" Cosmo asked, he sounded frustrated.

"You seemed persistent and it was actually a guess. But I really don't know what it means." Frederick thought for a few seconds then continued on. "A dragon like Star was born once before, but it was a very long time ago. This dragon was born by the spirit guardians themselves when evil threatened the world. The spirit guardians believed that the dragon could defeat the darkness. I don't know the details, but the dragon succeeded."

"Wait, does that mean that the same evil is back?" Isis added in to the conversation.

"You may be right, cat."

"Isis."

Frederick looked down at the cat, "You may be right Isis. There is a reason why Star was born again. It must be because the same evil that threatened the era before ours, is here already."

"The battle in Warfang last week, do you think that has something to do with this?" Spyro asked. It pained him to think back to that day but he couldn't help himself.

"Maybe," Frederick replied. "I want you to be wrong about that but something tells me otherwise. Now if you all would excuse me, I must make my leave."

"Wait."

Everyone looked back to see Cynder, standing in the bedroom doorway. She was obviously eavesdropping on the conversation the whole time.

"Yes Cynder, what is it?" Frederick asked.

"Are you saying Star is more powerful than all of us?"

Frederick nodded, "He is most likely more powerful than everyone in this room." He eyed Cosmo and Isis for a moment. "Well, I have to get going back to the mountains where I'm needed."

Spyro slightly nodded, "Alright Frederick, be safe on your travels."

Frederick nodded in return then made his way down the street at a fast pace, keeping an eye out for other dragons that would get suspicious of his appearance.

When Frederick was gone, Spyro closed the door until he heard it click shut then turned to Cynder. "Did you get everything?"

"Yeah," Cynder groggily said.

_The Following Morning_

"Spyro, have you seen Cosmo?" Cynder asked from the living room to the bedroom.

She went to look out the window beside the exit when she heard, "No Cynder I haven't. I don't know where he would be this early."

Cynder looked at the clock on the wall behind her. It read eight twelve. She looked around and noticed that Isis was also missing.

"Looks like Isis may be with him," Cynder went on. She always seemed to worry about him, especially when he left without saying anything to anyone. "He could leave a note at least instead of just leaving."

"He probably thought nothing of it." Spyro's voice sounded closer making Cynder turn around. Spyro was standing in the doorway. "I hope those two won't tell anyone about Star."

_Meanwhile_

Micha wasn't happy. She woke up to find that she was by herself in the whole house. Torch was nowhere to be seen. She thought Torch had changed when he showed her affection for once. But now he was always on the move, hardly paying attention to her. She spent her morning eating some breakfast by herself, which included eggs, bacon, sausage, and it was all washed down with a glass of milk. Afterwards, she aimlessly roamed around the house, bored. She hated being bored.

Half-an-hour later she decided to move on outside, where Torch most likely was. She went down the four steps at the front door and turned right and around the corner. She moved on to the hole which now was her enemy. A big pile of dirt sat beside the hole that Torch dug up. What was Torch going to do with all the excess dirt? She didn't want to leave it there, it looked bad for the side yard even though the side yard was small it needed all the help it could get and this wouldn't help it.

Micha set her eyes in the hole with a sigh. But Torch wasn't there. Then she noticed a hole in the wood that used to block the way. Torch must have finally gotten through. Micha jumped down until the hole and looked inside. It was dark to the point where she couldn't see anything.

"Torch! You in here?"

No answer.

Micha let loose a small stream of fire to light up the place. Her visibility was limited, but if this was the basement then it sure did like kind of big. Then Micha spotted an unlit torch on the wall beside her. She snagged it, almost breaking the bottom of it where it was in place at, then lit it with her flame.

The torch did a better job than her small flame did. The ground was only a few feet down from the hole, so she jumped. She landed with ease and noticed a few more torches on the walls. She decided to light them for walking on three legs would get tiring after a while. When the torches were lit, the basement lit up and Micha was surprised at what she saw. She certainly didn't expect it.

The basement was bigger than she was expecting it to be. The walls were made of wood and the ceiling was made of a smooth cement. It was obviously strong since it held seven feet of dirt and a two story house. The basement was decorated with a bunch of broken equipment, desks, barrels, just random junk. There was some hay on the cement floor here and there but most of it was in the corner to her right. There was a table still standing in the north eastern corner of the room, but it didn't having anything useful on top of it. There were stairs to Micha's left, near the hole she crawled through, but the stairs led to crumbled cement. She guessed that the basement was intact to the house owned it. But what really surprised her, was the large hole in the wall in front of her. The hole led into a small narrow tunnel. Small enough for claustrophobia to set in. Luckily Micha wasn't claustrophobic, so she picked up her torch and began her three legged walk.

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo acted as if he cracked his paws then went at it. He grasped a log the size of three Spyro's and lifted it off the ground. He held the log over his head, and tossed it aside as if it were trash.

"Was that necessary?" Isis asked, sitting down in her spot.

"I'll have to say yes. Why did we go out in the woods if you're not gonna do anything?"

The two of them were in the place they were yesterday. Behind Cynder's house on the hill in the woods. It wasn't a big hill bit it was good enough to be one. There was a bit more leaves covered the large gray rocks today than yesterday. Most likely because of the storm that passed recently.

"I was going to see if you're ready to use electricity," Isis replied.

"Electricity, I definitely want to know more." Cosmo sat down in front of Isis, who was sitting atop a gray large rock. The rock came up to Cosmo's lower neck area, but it was probably because he was on the lower part of the hill.

"Good, now I need Spyro to come and zap you a few times," Isis calmly replied.

"Whoa what!"

"To know an element well, it's best if you're hit by that element. You can learn elements by yourself, but it takes longer. However if Spyro comes and zaps you a few times then I'm sure you can learn electricity, sooner or later at least."

Cosmo was quiet for a few moments. Isis actually thought he was considering it until he replied, "Will it hurt?"

Isis almost laughed, "It's electricity, so yeah, most likely it will."

Cosmo was quiet for a few more moments then continued, "Will it hurt a lot?"

Isis sighed, "Depends on how easy Spyro goes on you. So I wouldn't suggest making him mad for a few days. I'm sure that you would regret that."

"Well this is gonna be fun!" Cosmo sarcastically said, looking up at the morning sky through the trees.

"Indeed it is," Isis remarked.

_A Few Minutes Later_

"You want me to what?" Spyro exclaimed, surprised.

"I knew you would do this. I want you to use some electricity on Cosmo. You know, get the volts running through him so he'll learn to use electricity sooner."

"Why the rush?" Spyro asked.

"Cosmo wants to learn the elements so we're gonna teach him."

"Yeah but don't you think this is a bit . . . risky?"

Isis smiled, "It all depends on how mad you are. So don't get mad."

Spyro shook his head, "I can't do it, I can't hurt a friend on purpose."

"You're not hurting him, you are helping him so to speak."

Spyro began pacing around the living room. Cynder was in the bathroom so she couldn't hear the conversation. "So you want me to deliberately hurt Cosmo, just so he can learn how to use electricity? Did I get it right?"

Isis motioned her head in a circle, "Uhmm, yeah I think so."

"I can't do it Isis, I'm sorry."

"Did I mention that he was smooching up on Cynder yesterday?" Isis hastily said.

Spyro chuckled, "Nice try, but it won't work. They barely know each other anyways."

"Oh come on, would you do it for a klondike bar?"

"A what?"

"Nevermind that, I was just kidding around." Isis became more serious. "Well, you would actually be helping a friend if you did this. He wants this, he wants to learn another element. You can easily help him out."

"But I thought he could already use electricity. He is yellow after all."

Isis sighed out of frustration but it sounded as if she sighed out of fatigue. "Just because he's yellow doesn't mean he used electricity. Look at Cynder, she's black."

"And she can use the shadow element," Spyro finished.

"Oh, well look at you! You're purple!"

"And I can use this purple beam thingy," Spyro finished.

"Is there a name for this purple beam thingy?" Isis huffed.

"I don't know, light?"

"Wouldn't it have been a white beam?"

Spyro rolled his eyes, "We're getting off the subject."

"Whatever," Isis said. "Can't you just go and shock him a few times?"

"Fine, but when he dies it's you're fault."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"I don't want to talk to you anymore anyways," Isis replied as she made her way to the door. She looked mad in the face.

"Nor do I want to talk to you! You're mean and a control freak!"

"I am the opposite of that you scaly reptile!"

Spyro wailed, "I cannot believe what I'm hearing!"

"How can you hear it! I don't see any ears on you!"

"Just get out of here!" Spyro yelled back.

Isis walked to the door, then looked back at Spyro. "Hey Spyro can you get the door for me?" She sounded sweet and innocent now.

"Oh, yeah alright." Spyro also sounded like his old, friendly self again. Spyro opened the door and Isis walked outside.

"Thanks, nice arguing with you."

"You too, and tell Cosmo I'll be out in a minute."

"Alright," Isis nodded. "Thanks for the talk."

"No problem."

Spyro shut the door and Isis made her way back into the woods where Cosmo patiently waited. He was nervous actually, he never been shocked by electricity, on purpose that is.


	26. Watching Time Pass

Chapter 26

Watching Time Pass

"Torch! Are you in here?" Micha's anxious voice echoed through the tunnel walls.

From all Micha could figure out, these were a series of endless tunnels under the city. She had been following the paths that were lit up by torches on the ragged walls. They couldn't have been lit for all these years, so they must have been lit recently, meaning Torch must have been this way. The tunnels were also quite cold.

Micha was about to turn back and follow the torches back out, but she entered a large cavern which made her look around a bit more. The cavern was the size of a large room but was barely decorated. There was a dusty old carpet which Micha couldn't tell what color it was. On the walls around her were just lit torches which helped light up the cavern. There were two bookcases on the wall ahead of her, but they were empty, save for a few books. In between the two bookcases was an old dusty table. And in front of that table was Torch.

"Torch?"

Torch turned around with a grin, "Oh, hi Micha! Didn't expect to see you down here."

Micha made her way to Torch and couldn't help but look on the table. There was a black book on the table and it was open. "What are you doing down here?"

Torch shrugged, "Exploring, I guess. But check this neat looking book I found. It was just laying on the table when I came in. It's about these dragons called the spirit guardians." Micha looked down at the book from curiosity while Torch excitedly continued. "I haven't read much yet, but you know of those dragons that keep appearing and disappearing? Like the one where a dragon saw a big green dragon and had lots of luck later?"

Micha nodded and let Torch continue, "I think this book has something to do with them. But I did read something about the spirit guardians having a son too. Their son's purpose was to defeat the evil from back then. But there was something else here that caught my eye. The spirit guardians son, wasn't alone in his quest. He had unusual allies that was said to come from somewhere else. Another realm."

"What do you suppose that means?" Micha lowly asked, already knowing the answer.

Torch closed the book then turned to Micha, "It means that his allies wasn't from the dragon realm of course."

Before leaving the cavern, Torch grabbed the book for safekeeping. He was especially interested because of the spirit guardians showing up in Warfang. Was this what the ghost wanted them to find?

However, Torch and Micha kept quiet about the tunnels.

The days went on.

Everything was going well for Cosmo. He learned how to use the element of electricity, thanks to Spyro's help. Being shocked by electricity helped Cosmo in two ways. One, it helped him learn the element a little bit faster. It wasn't as fast as Isis had predicted, but it somehow worked. Two, it helped Cosmo get used to being shocked, so to speak. His resistance to electricity increased a little by being shocked so much. Sure his training was painful, Cosmo said it himself. But was it worth it?

Seeing as his training of electricity took him a few days to complete, Cosmo was taking a break until he was ready to learn more of the next element, which would be ice. But Spyro was more surprised than confused about Cosmo. He could use more than one element so he wondered. Was Cosmo special somehow? He knew how to use fire pretty well, he had a beginner skill but he could still use it. His electricity would be a bit wild sometimes but he was still learning to harness his ability.

The days were moving rather quickly for Cosmo. Every few days Cosmo would use his music box to talk to Kaida and tell her of what he had been experiencing. He asked her of Isis once, but Kaida only said that she didn't know much about her.

Soon Cosmo found himself being trained for the element of ice. This took a little bit longer than electricity, but after a few more days he was able to use it to his advantage, most of the time at least.

Cynder would occasionally spy on Spyro, Isis, and Cosmo to see what they were up to. The first time Cynder witnessed Spyro attacking Cosmo, she was about to go postal. But then she noticed that Cosmo was smiling. So she laid back and watched his training from the distance, curious of why Cosmo was letting Spyro do those things to him. She figured it out when Cosmo began using ice on his own. She immediately knew then that Cosmo wasn't ordinary considering he was learning more than one element. Cynder wanted to know the real importance of Cosmo. Why was he here? She enjoyed the company and he wasn't half bad looking. But she shook the thoughts aside. She shook the thoughts aside, almost wanting to smack herself for thinking such a thing.

Soon an easy going month passed by. Cosmo was used to his dragon life, Isis was used to being a cat, but both of them would occasionally think back to when they were humans. Cosmo brought up the subject about humans by asking her where she was from in the human realm. Isis never fully answered that question almost as if she had forgotten about the whole thing.

Torch and Micha figured out the mysteries of the spirit guardians and what they all meant including the white dragon. But they hardly talked about it, even while exploring the tunnels. The tunnels seemed to lead to different parts of the city with the exits being like manholes. The manholes were very well camouflaged with grass or plants. They kept the whole secret to themselves of the secret underneath the city.

Cosmo showed the emotion of worry at some points during the month. Isis noticed but decided to stay quiet for the moment until she found the right time to confront Cosmo about it. What Cosmo was worried about was Kali. He wanted to go back and see if she was okay. See if she was still in that prison in Velxtra Forest. But how could he get to her? He didn't know the way to her, he knew he would either get lost for an eternity or never even get in the forest itself with looping back to the beginning. Every time Cosmo brought the thought to Kaida through the music box, Kaida would always find a way to change the subject. As if she didn't want to talk about Kali anymore. Cosmo thought it was because she tried to kill him at one point, but something told him otherwise. Kaida never seemed like the one to hold a grudge against someone.

Another week passed and Cosmo was already training in the last element Spyro knew. Earth. Yes, Spyro confronted Cosmo on how he could learn four elements already. Cosmo only shrugged and told him that he didn't have a clue on how it was possible, but there must have been a reason.

Taking advantage of the free time to learn the elements was Cosmo's plan for right now.

Spyro and Cynder would go visit Star every once in a while too. Cosmo would notice their sudden disappearances and then reappear in their home as if they hadn't gone anywhere. He didn't pay much attention to them anyways. He was too busy playing with the elements.


	27. Problem For Cosmo

Chapter 27

Problem for Cosmo

"So, how's things?" Cosmo was only answered to a bonk on the head by Spyro's fist. Cosmo lowered put a paw on his head and lowered it. "What was that for?"

"You dummy, you know what for." Spyro replied. Cosmo flinched at being called a dummy. He had been called that a lot lately.

Cosmo just entered Cynder's home hoping for a welcome party, instead he was getting an earful.

Spyro continued, "You know you should have come back instead of staying out in the city for that long. You know that there are dragons after you, why would take that big of a risk?"

Cosmo didn't have a reply. What he did was that he left Cynder's home without telling a soul, and went missing for a few days. This worried everyone and Spyro even asked Shivertail for help. He said he was going to keep an eye out for him, but he never saw him nor his guards. But Cosmo just wanted to explore the city some more. He was tired of staying indoors nearly all day. It was driving him nuts. So he came up with the stupid idea to go and explore while avoiding anyone he might have known so he wouldn't have gotten in trouble. He knew about the dragon that was after him, he didn't need Spyro to remind him of that.

"I don't know," Cosmo finally responded in a depressed sort of tone. "I just need to get away."

"Get away?" Spyro replied, sitting down on the floor in front of Cosmo. His voice sounded more concerned than upset. "Get away from what? If you think you're putting a burden on us then don't worry about it, because you're not. When you disappear like that, that's when that burden comes. We become worried about you when you pull stunts like that, I don't need another friend finding out what death feels like." Spyro sighed then continued a few seconds later, "Where did you sleep?"

Cosmo looked back up. He sounded nervous. "Well, I . . . err . . . well does it matter? I'm safe and sound back here, isn't that what really matters?"

Cosmo began walking back toward the door, then stopped as if he hit a brick wall when he heard, "And just where do you think you are going?" It wasn't Spyro.

Cosmo only turned his head. He eyed the black dragoness standing in the bedroom doorway then looked down in front of him at the carpeted floor.

"Where have you been? I was worried, Spyro was worried, and even Isis was worried. Speaking of which, where is she?"

Spyro looked around himself then shrugged, "Don't have a clue."

"I haven't seen her in a couple days either, right after Cosmo decided to split town and fend for himself to be precise about it."

"Really?" Spyro replied with a hint of a playful chuckle. "I didn't even notice."

Cynder rolled her eyes and walked to the side of Spyro. "Of course you wouldn't. I should knock you on the head just like you did to Cosmo."

"Hey! I didn't knock him on the head, I bonked him on the head there's a difference."

Then Spyro and Cynder heard the front door click shut. They stopped the argument for a moment to look over and saw nothing. Cosmo was gone. Cynder looked back at Spyro and Spyro looked back at her, then continued arguing.

"This was all your fault! If you wasn't talking back to me then Cosmo wouldn't have left!"

Spyro shook his head frantically, "I sincerely doubt that, it just so happens that when you showed up, he left!"

Cynder gasped, "Are you saying this is my fault?"

"Well it's someone's fault, and if it wasn't me then it had to be the only one left in the room."

"What! That's . . . that's . . . absurd! Cosmo wouldn't leave because of little ol'e me! You were the one that was training him too hard!"

"He asked me to do it! I couldn't turn him down!"

"Because you wanted to do it!"

Spyro tilted his head upwards, then looked beside him on the table. He noticed that something was missing. "Say, wasn't Cosmo's music box there a second ago?"

"Don't change the subject," Cynder calmly replied.

"I don't want to argue any more Cynder. Why are we arguing when Cosmo is gone . . . again?"

Cynder went silent then made her way to the couch and sat down on it. "You know, sometimes, Cosmo gives me these, looks. I can't really explain it. It's like he's suddenly in thought when he looks at me, then he suddenly snaps back to reality and finds some excuse to get away from me."

"That's," Spyro began but had to think of the words. "Kind of strange I guess. When did he start doing this?"

"Like a few weeks ago."

"Maybe he's hitting puberty?" Spyro replied, obviously trying to be funny. However Cynder wasn't amused.

"No, it's something different. I just can't place it." Cynder's head begun to sag and her voice grew quiet.

Spyro swiftly paced over to Cynder and sat beside her on the couch. He held his head up high then said, "Hey, we'll figure out what with him. We just need to give him a little more time. Maybe he'll open up to us. Until then, it would probably be best if we gave him the space he most likely wants."

Cynder nodded, "I guess we can try that."

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo sat in the same spot in the woods as he always did. The place where he would always talk to Kaida and the place where Spyro was training him. He sat up against a rock, listening to the melody that the music box played. Cosmo really listened to it this time instead of just waiting to hear the voice of Kaida. It was a slow, sad sounding melody at first, but as the minute passed it gradually grew into a more happier sounding tune. When Cosmo heard the melody die down, he felt another presence in his mind just like he always did.

"Kaida?"

"Cosmo, I'm here, what is it you have to tell?" Kaida sounded like she was happy to be talking to her friend.

"You think Spyro and Cynder are really worried . . . about me?"

Kaida almost seemed to laugh but she controlled it and replied, "Cosmo, they are your friends. Of course they were worried about you, why would you even ask such a question?"

Cosmo was silent for a moment in thought before saying, "I don't know. I've been in a bit of confusion lately." Cosmo nervously sighed, "Cynder. I don't . . . know why, but every time I look at her. . . I get this urge."

"Urge? To do what?" Kaida asked with wonder.

"I . . . well uh . . . you know what, just forget about it. It's probably better to just leave it unsaid."

"Oh come on Cosmo, you can tell me. Besides, who am I gonna tell?" Kaida replied.

The comment made Cosmo grin for a short second before his frown returned. "Well, it's kind of embarrassing." Cosmo felt himself blush but continued. "I think my mind says that Cynder . . . is, well how would I say this?"

"Hot?" Kaida finished.

Cosmo hung his head low and only nodded. He hoped Kaida could tell he did nod because he didn't want to say it.

Kaida giggled then continued, "Interspecies romance, this is something worth watching."

"Well its not really interspecies right? I'm a dragon right?" Cosmo replied without even thinking.

"Well, yeah of course you're a dragon. Or in a dragon's body but that doesn't make a difference. Still, if you have a love in your heart then you shou-."

"No, no," Cosmo interrupted. "It's not like that I love her. Besides, I couldn't be in love with Spyro's . . . lover." Cosmo shrugged then continued, "That wouldn't be right. He may call me a dummy at times, and he may bonk me on the head, but that isn't an excuse to ask his lover if she would go on a date." Cosmo thought about what he just said and felt like bonking himself just like Spyro did to him. "Jeez, what on earth am I thinking! My minds all jumbled up, why am I having these feelings?"

Kaida answered a moment later, "That's a question you're gonna have to figure out for yourself Cosmo. There are some mysteries that are meant to be left alone though."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well," Kaida began in a less livelier voice than before. "I'm just saying. There are some things that are better left alone."

"Right," Cosmo said then changed the subject. He didn't want to stay too long on such a subject anyways. "Would you happen to know where Isis is? Spyro said that she went missing right after I left three days ago."

"Oh, I know where she is. But this is one of those cases where a question is better left, unanswered."

"What? Don't pull that crap on me, I need to know if she's alright!"

Kaida quickly replied, "Yes, she is alright. She was just checking up on something and was coming straight back."

"Check on what?"

"If I told you then you would worry."

"I'm worried right now," Cosmo fidgeted.

"No, you aren't. You know that she is alright and not worried about her at all." Kaida sounded like she was running a psychic shop with a crystal ball in front of her. Then she returned to her normal, happy sounding voice. "I'm more interested in this urge you are having with Cynder. What kind of urge is it? Mental? Sexual?"

"Kaida!" Cosmo choked. "It's none of your business."

Kaida laughed and soon after, Cosmo began laughing himself. The two of them laughed until they were out of breath and were gasping for more.

Kaida breathed in then continued, "No seriously, I want to know more about my friends secret crush."

"_Kaida will you just hush about it_," Cosmo thought.

"I heard that," Kaida replied. "I'm in your head, remember?"

Cosmo didn't sound the least bit surprised, "Then why are you asking me this sudden question if you can just read minds?"

"Because you're doing a very good job on hiding it and keeping the secret hidden down deep."

"Then I should be more prepared when I talk to you," Cosmo chuckled.

Kaida went quiet for a moment. Cosmo could just picture her smiling at this very moment. "Oh, and by the way, mating season starts next month."

Cosmo went quiet as if he swallowed his own tongue.

Kaida giggled then continued, "Well, I won't keep you from your love life. Have fun!"

Cosmo felt the presence leave his mind, but he couldn't move. His legs were as stiff as boards. He tried not to imagine how all of it was going to happen, but ultimately failed when his mind was flooded with hundreds of disturbing thoughts. Then the one thought came to his mind, maybe there were more male dragons than females in the city. If that were so, Cosmo could just avoid everyone during the whole season and slip through the system.

So Cosmo started his way back to Cynder's home, walking by trees and hearing the birds sing. When he reached his destination a few minutes later, Cynder was standing at the front door.

"Oh there you are Cosmo," Cynder greeted with a grin. Then Cosmo looked all over the dragoness. Her wings, her scales, her chest, even her eyes. Cosmo gulped as he felt the same heat from before return to his face. Cynder noticed Cosmo's change in behavior then asked as she walked over to him, "Cosmo? Is something wrong."

"No nothing!" Cosmo said with speed. "Err . . . I mean, no nothing is wrong. I was just thinking, that's all." He tried to avoid eye contact the whole time.

"What were you thinking?"

"Oh, well I was thinking that . . .what if . . . well . . . I was thinking if there were more female dragons in the city than males."

Cynder waited but he never continued so she went ahead, "Want me to answer that for you? Me and Spyro has been in Shivertail's office more than a few times and he has a long list of every resident in the city. It's really long, but he had a summary of females and males at the beginning. Why are so interested all the sudden?"

Cosmo looked down to the cement. He would happily stare at that than Cynder at the moment. "No reason, just curious. _Please say there's less females!_"

Cynder sighed, seeing no change in his behavior she continued, "Well, according to the list, there is twice as many females than males in the city, especially in this part of the city."

Cosmo's head drooped even more, "Oh really? Thanks."

Cosmo made his way back inside, but Cynder noticed he had something clutched in his paw. "Cosmo, what do you got there?"

"What?" Cosmo looked down in his paw and replied. "It's my music box."

"Were you listening to it in the woods? You didn't have to go all the way out there. Me and Spyro don't mind if you listen to it inside."

"No it's alright." Cosmo speedily replied.

"Well, okay then. If you ever need me then you're welcome to ask. I'm always here if you need someone to talk to."

"Well . . . thanks."

Cosmo made his way back inside like a cheetah leaving Cynder outside with a concerned look on her face. She still had no idea why Cosmo was acting so strange around her, especially when the two were alone. Oh well. She soon went back about her business and forgot the whole ordeal. Or tried to at least.

Cosmo found out he had the house to himself for the time being. He just hoped Cynder didn't decide to come walking in. But he spoke too soon. The door opened making Cosmo look, and it was Cynder again. She closed the door back and only gave a smile to Cosmo. A smile that made Cosmo feel uncomfortable. He made himself sit down on the couch in front of the fireplace to relax, he hadn't sat down in a while so he felt pretty comfortable, physically. Mentally, he wanted to run for it. He didn't understand why he thought Cynder was good looking.

"_Maybe I'm getting used to being a dragon. Yeah, that has to be it. It's the only explanation for all of this. But do I really, like her? She's Spyro's so I have to stay back._" His thoughts were interrupted when he felt the couch shift. He looked beside himself, and sighed on the inside. "Hey Cynder,"he dully greeted.

"Hey again, just forgot to tell you that Spyro went out to the market to get some food."

Cosmo's eyes became as wide as they could get, "You mean . . . we're here all by ourselves?"

Cynder expectantly nodded, "Yep."

"_Crap._" Cosmo couldn't help himself but smell her aroma again. He just couldn't get enough of it, but he forced himself to breathe through his mouth so he wouldn't be smelling anymore. He slowly turned his head to her, she just smiled and waved. Cosmo waved back and returned his sight on the unlit fireplace. This was going to be a long day.

_Meanwhile_

Isis was deep in Velxtra forest. She wanted to see how Kali was doing seeing that she hadn't her from her in a month. She had enough food to last her for much longer, but Isis wanted to make sure. Right now, Isis was on her way back from the prison Kali was in.

The prison was left empty now that Isis was being followed by Kali.

"Are you sure he knows?" Isis asked again.

Kali reassured her, "He saw the cell was empty for himself. Phantom knows that Cosmo is loose so he locked me in the same cell that Cosmo was in. Luckily, I had the hole covered back up with the hay so he didn't know about the hole Cosmo made when he escaped. When I escaped, that was when I saw you."

"So there's no point in you staying in that prison for any longer."

"Yes," Kali replied, but she had something else on her mind. "Um, how is Cosmo doing?" Her voice sounded soft and sweet.

"He's getting along. He learned a few elements from Spyro so he can sort of defend himself now."

But there was a secret that Isis had yet to tell Kali. The secret that she used to be a dragon until that magician turned her into a cat. She shivered at the thought when she remembered the pain she went through. She didn't want to keep thinking about that, so she quickly thought of something else.

"So . . . how have you been?"

Kali noticed the randomness of the question but answered anyways, "Fine, could be better though. I would like to be in my house right now, just wasting the day away by relaxing on some comfy furniture and sleep in an actual bed."

"Well, I have an idea about Cosmo."

Kali looked down at the cat as she walked, "I'm listening."

Isis took a breathe and began her suggestion. "Cosmo is being forced to live at Cynder's house and he hasn't been looking . . . like himself lately. So, what if Cosmo lived with you?"

"What? That's . . . not too bad of an idea. What do you mean that Cosmo hasn't been looking like himself?"

"Whenever he sees Cynder, he acts all weird and stuff. I think its from him being around Cynder too much."

Kali thought about the dilemma for a moment then replied, "Well, it does get lonely in that house. And I do live alone. And if Cosmo needs to, I guess he can stay for a little while."

Isis smiled and focused more on leading Kali back out of the forest.


	28. The Nightmare

Chapter 28

The Nightmare

All was gloomy in Cosmo's dream. He was in darkness and couldn't tell where he was, but had a strange sense like he had been here before. Then he heard something, or felt something for that matter. The ground shook as something approached him. He couldn't tell where it was coming from either. With each step of whatever was with Cosmo the ground seemed to vibrate. Whatever it was, it was way bigger than him, and was scaring him.

Then he saw its eyes. They pierced straight into Cosmo's very soul, then Cosmo realized he was holding his breath. Then the darkness began to subside, and revealed the very creature Cosmo was trying to evade. It was Cynder, or it looked like Cynder, but she was much bigger and stronger.

Without thought, Cosmo ran. But no matter how fast he ran, Cynder seemed to catch up. Cosmo had no idea where he was, all he could see were stars in the sky and the stars were below him too. He tried to fly, but for some reason he couldn't. He flapped his wings but he couldn't get airborne. Then Cynder caught up to the exhausted dragon, and grabbed him. The large Cynder look-alike brought Cosmo up to her face making Cosmo terrified.

Then Cosmo jolted up off the couch in shock. He realized that he was close from screaming out loud when he did. Then he felt a paw on his shoulder.

"Cosmo, are you alright?"

Cosmo rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, just a-" Then he realized that he was talking to Cynder. Cosmo became scared and wordlessly backed away from her. "_She's a monster!_"

"Are you feeling okay Cosmo?" Cynder asked again in her sweet voice. "Are you getting sick?"

"No! I'm fine!" But Cosmo sounded the opposite of that. He sounded terrified.

"Cosmo?" Cynder began worried. She leaned toward him only to have Cosmo fall off the other end of the couch and onto his back. Cynder heard a loud crack, then Cosmo was lifeless. He hit the back of his head of the arm of the chair behind him, knocking him out-cold. "Cosmo!" Cynder exclaimed. She jumped from her spot and landed beside Cosmo. She put a paw on his head then listened for his breathing. It seemed a bit over steady. Then Cynder noticed an object beside Cosmo. It was his music box that he left on the arm of the couch before he fell asleep. He must have knocked it off when he hit the couch.

Then the front door opened.

"Cynder, I didn't know whether you wanted pears or oranges so I just got them both."

Cynder looked up to see Spyro carrying a few brown bags with the handles threw the tips of his wings. Cynder looked back down at Cosmo, and Spyro noticed it too.

"Cosmo, you feeling alright?" Spyro asked as he stepped inside.

"He fell off the couch and he hit his head on the chair! I think he's out cold!"

"What? How?" Spyro threw the bags off his wings and onto the floor and made his way over to his friend.

Cynder shook her head, "I don't know what happened. He fell asleep on the couch so I kept him company. Then when he woke up, it was more like he jolted up with fright. He sounded okay, until he looked at me. Then he freaked out and fell!"

"Now why would he do that?" Spyro rhetorically asked. He looked down at Cosmo and lightly slapped him across the face a few times. "Hey, wake up!"

But he had no response. "You think some water would help?" Cynder asked.

"Maybe, it's better than nothing at the moment." Spyro made his way into the kitchen and grabbed a small glass. He turned to the faucet and filled the glass half full of water. He walked back to Cynder in the same pace and gave the glass to her. She quickly accepted it, then poured the water onto Cosmo's face.

Then Cosmo jolted back up again. He felt his face was wet and the back of his head was in pain. Cosmo groaned, "Ugh, what happened?"

"You had an accident, but everything is all right now." Spyro replied. Cosmo looked up at Spyro, but saw Cynder instead. Cosmo's only reaction was fright. He was stiff and couldn't move.

"It's all going to be all right Cosmo." Cynder said as Cosmo was glaring at her. But all Cosmo could see was what he saw in his dreams. He never seen anything as terrifying as he did in his dream. And here it was, staring straight back at him.

"What's wrong Cosmo?" Cynder asked, noticing the look he was giving her.

Cosmo wanted to say it, but something forced his mouth to stay water-proof shut. He crawled backwards the best he could on his back while keeping his eyes on Cynder.

"Cosmo! What is wrong with you?" Spyro demanded.

"I-I-I," but Cosmo could only stutter. Cynder was worried, Spyro was getting frustrated at his behavior, and Cosmo was just frightened to the point where he couldn't even talk. Cosmo noticed his music box on the floor in front of him, snagged it, and scrambled to his feet.

"Cosmo! No!" Cynder exclaimed, but it was too late. Cosmo was already up to his feet, and running for the door. Spyro ran after him, but the door was already swung open, and Cosmo was free.

Cosmo ran down the street as fast as he could before jumping into the air and flapping his wings. Spyro was right behind him. The two of them were in the air now.

"Cosmo! What the heck are you doing!" Spyro yelled.

Of course, he didn't respond. He was only worried about getting away from Cynder, away from the evil he saw. Away from the dragon that was now crying.

Spyro flew as fast he could but he couldn't catch up to Cosmo, even when he turned toward the woods behind Cynder's home. Cosmo flew straight into the tree tops making visibility low for Spyro because of all the tree limbs that kept hitting him against the face. Cosmo seemed unaffected. That spot of yellow suddenly disappeared from Spyro's sight. How? Spyro flew below the trees and looked, but saw nothing. He flew back up above the tree tops, and again, saw nothing. How could have Cosmo escaped? The one place Spyro failed to look, was behind him.

Cosmo was only able to evade the dragon by stopping in the tree limbs and letting Spyro pass by. Luckily, Spyro didn't see him hiding behind some branches. When Spyro flew off in a direction, Cosmo landed and immediately opened the music box he managed to get before escaping. The box played it's melody, and then Kaida appeared in Cosmo's mind.

But before Cosmo could say anything, Kaida gave him an earful. "Cosmo! What are you doing? You're hurting your friends! What are you thinking?"

"Kaida! Cynder's a monster! I saw it in her eyes! She's out to get me!"

"Do you really believe that Cosmo? Cynder has been taking care of you for a month, and you think she is going to actually kill you? I am not amused by what you are doing!"

"But Kaida!" Cosmo began to protest. But Kaida cut him off.

"But nothing! I can't believe you would do such a thing to someone who cared so much for you!She took care of you Cosmo! When you needed a home, she supplied you with one. When you were hungry, she gave you something to eat. When you were tired, she gave you a place to rest. What more do you need to hear? If she wanted to kill you, she would have done it a long time ago." Kaida seemed to be getting more calm. "Cosmo, I know about that nightmare you had. But that was all it was, a nightmare. Please, forget about this nightmare and return to Cynder. She is in pain right now because of you."

"But, what do you want me to do Kaida?"

"I want you to apologize to her and explain what happened. She will understand and everyone will forget about this whole situation."

Cosmo then realized what he had done. He held his head low, "What was I thinking? How could I be so dumb. I guess Spyro was right, I am a dummy."

"No Cosmo, you are not a dummy. You may act like one sometimes, but that's what makes you, you. You're unique in your own way and so is Cynder, Spyro, and Isis." Kaida was quiet for a long while before saying, "Even Kali."

Kali, Cosmo had forgotten about her and felt so ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry, I should have never even called you. I should have known what to do by the time I left the door."

"Cosmo, it's okay to be scared. That's what friends are for, to comfort you during those times. But you are scaring Cynder."

"And she needs a friend to comfort her," Cosmo finished. He stood back to his former stature. "Thank you Kaida, for everything."

"Anytime, now go help your friend. She needs it."

Cosmo nodded, not noticing the tear that appeared in his eye. He quickly wiped it away, then closed the music box. The presence in Cosmo's mind disappeared, but Cosmo knew what he had to do. He made his way back to Cynder's on foot so Spyro wouldn't see him. A few minutes later, he arrived at the front door. He hesitated for a short second, then opened the door. He walked inside and closed the door. He looked around, and saw Cynder with her head buried in the couch. Cosmo quietly walked over to her and placed both his front paws on her shoulders. Cosmo knelt down beside her with his paws still on her shoulders, then Cynder looked over at him.

She looked at him for a moment, then looked back down. "Monster, I'm a monster." Her voice sounded so low and sad.

"What? No, it's not true Cynder." Cosmo was startled by what she said, he must have been sleep talking during his nightmare. He cursed his luck and returned to the situation at hand. "Cynder, I'm so sorry for what I did. I shouldn't have done it and I have no excuse for what I did." Considering Cynder must have already known he had a nightmare about her being in her evil form, Cosmo really didn't have any other excuses. "But Cynder, I didn't mean those things. I was having a nightmare about you, and when I saw you I don't know what came over me. Is there any way you can find it in your heart and forgive me?"

Cynder was quiet for a long while while her face was still buried in the couch cushions. Cosmo could hear his own heart beating through his chest for a long while. A quick minute passed by. Cosmo realized he was sweating now. And somehow in this situation, he managed to get a whiff of Cynder's scent. It smelled so nice, so feminine to him.

"You smell nice," Cosmo said, then realized the randomness that came out of his mouth.

Then Cosmo heard a small giggle from Cynder. She looked back at Cosmo and softly replied, "Thanks."

"My pleasure," he replied. "Now about that apology."

Cynder smiled then nodded, "Of course I forgive you Cosmo. Who couldn't?"

Cosmo smiled and helped Cynder up to her feet. "I'm glad you accepted." Cosmo didn't notice how beautiful her sapphire eyes looked. He could see his own reflection in them.

"So, does that explain why you've been acting weird around me too?" Cynder asked.

Cosmo snapped back to reality and realization. He was trying to avoid stunts like staring into females eyes, but somehow he ended up doing it anyways. Cosmo was about to nod, but that would be lying. Lying to one of his best friends was something he wouldn't tolerate.

"No," Cosmo admitted. "The truth is . . . it's because . . . well. How do I say this?"

"Just say it," Cynder lowly said.

Cosmo gulped then went on, "I know you and Spyro have a thing, but it's just that . . . I think you're . . . beautiful."

Cynder looked down and tried to cover her blush but didn't succeed. "Well sweety," Cosmo never heard her call someone sweety before so this was new. "I have to admit that you aren't that bad looking either. I guess I lost control of myself with mating season coming up and all. I guess you did too."

Mating season. Cosmo shook the thought away and replied after a few seconds, "Yeah, that was probably it."

Then Cynder held her two front paws out and wide while standing on her two back paws. She was taller than Cosmo was expecting when she actually stood up. The Cynder smiled, "Hugs?"

"Hugs?" Cosmo replied then smiled back. "Hugs."

Then Cosmo was in the embrace of Cynder. She felt good against his body. She felt warm and her belly was soft. Cosmo closed his eyes for a short moment, then his thoughts were immediately gone when Cynder was done with her hug and pulled away. She stared at Cosmo for a short moment, then the front door swung open. Cosmo snapped his attention to it, and saw one angry Spyro.

"Cosmo! Where did you go! I was flying for hours!" Spyro slammed the door shut in response.

Cynder stepped in, "Spyro, it's okay. He explained everything to me and I forgave him. So it's all alright now. And it's been minutes, your overexaggerating."

Spyro eyed Cosmo with an angry look, but his look slowly disappeared into one of curiosity. "So why did you do what you did?"

Cosmo was about to explain but Cynder butted in, "You don't have to Cosmo. Like I said, it's all alright and it's all behind us. What we really should be worried about is Isis."

"Oh right," Cosmo said. "Isis, she's been missing for as long as I have."

"Exactly," Cynder replied. "Now you know how we felt when you were gone."

It didn't feel too good either. Cosmo was worried about his furry little friend. What if she got into trouble? What if she was lost? What if she was in some sort of accident? So many thoughts raced through his mind that he didn't know what to think.

A few fast hours passed by. The sun was still in the sky but it was beginning to set for the beautiful night to begin. There wasn't a cloud in the sky so Cosmo would be able to gaze up at the stars for hours. It's what he did when the old case of insomnia set in. So he walked outside to see if any stars were visible yet, but to his surprise he saw something else. To his right, he saw Isis coming down the road, along with a blue dragoness.

"Isis!" Cosmo exclaimed as he ran toward the dragoness and the cat. The outburst made Spyro and Cynder peek out the front door to see what was going on.

Isis smiled as she saw Cosmo, "Hey Cosmo! You remember Kali right?"

Cosmo knelt down at the cat then replied, "Of course I do." He looked back up at the Kali. "Firstly, I want to thank you for getting me out of there."

"That isn't necessary," Kali replied. Her voice sounded almost as soft and sweet as Cynder's. If not more. She also seemed better looking the last time they met. Then Cosmo violently shook his head. What was he thinking? Why was he acting this way all of the sudden? "Are you alright?" Kali asked.

"Yeah," Cosmo lied. "Just peachy." Then Cosmo noticed Spyro and Cynder sneaking up behind him, but he didn't pay much attention to them. "So what are you doing here?"

"The prison was getting boring so I decided to came back here," Kali lied, seems as if both of them wanted to keep their secrets.

Isis looked up at Kali and was about to say otherwise, but Isis stayed quiet anyways.

"You must be Kali," Spyro guessed. "Cosmo told us a lot about you."

"He did?" Kali replied, sounding uneasy.

"Yeah," Cynder added. "He told us how you helped him escape from that prison and that forest."

"Oh, that," Kali said, sounding relieved. Then she returned to her more serious expression, "I came here to ask Cosmo a serious question."

"Alright then, shoot," Cosmo said.

"Cosmo, I came here to ask you if you wanted to come a live with me for a little while. I know it sounds a bit sudden, but think about for a little while. I don't live that much further away from here, and it's just going to be me and Isis. I figured Spyro and Cynder needed more space and I thought, well, we thought, that this was a good idea."

Cosmo was frozen in his place for a full minute. Kali thought that she was too sudden and put Cosmo into shock or something, until Cynder placed a paw on his shoulder. Cosmo came to life and looked behind him. "Let's talk." She simply said.

Cosmo did what he was told and followed her back to the house. She stopped at the front door, just out of earshot from everyone else then began. "Cosmo, I know this is hard, but I think it is best if you took her up on that offer. Please don't be offended, but I just can't keep you around here. You remember the conversation we had earlier. The one about us wanting each other because of the upcoming season." Cosmo swallowed when he heard her say that. "If you stay here, I'm afraid I could . . . well . . . get out of control and try and mate with you."

"M-Mate?" Cosmo stuttered. "I don't really like the sound of that."

"Me either." Then Cynder smiled, "I just can't get over how cute you are. You want to go inside for a little while?"

Cosmo's heart almost exploded just then, "Wh-what? Cynder, are . . . are you okay?"

Then Cynder placed a paw on Cosmo's chest and began to feel him over. "I'm just peachy." Cynder seductively replied.

"Wow, erm." Cosmo tried to talk but Cynder kept feeling him on the chest with her paw. "You know wh-what. I think . . . I'll just take Kali up on her offer." Cosmo grabbed Cynder's paw and tried to jerk her away but she kept coming back for more.

"Oh sweety, you don't have to go so soon. You can leave tomorrow if you want." Cynder blinked a few times with a smile Cosmo just couldn't look away from.

"I think I better leave right now." Cosmo began running back to the group. "Good luck with your . . . problem!"

Cynder watched him run off and smiled, her planned worked. What she didn't tell Cosmo, was that not all females felt the urge when mating season came. Cynder wasn't, she was just pulling Cosmo's tail. But just in case she did feel the effects of mating season, she would only have Spyro to look at. She didn't want to put her friend Cosmo through all that pressure, so this was the best thing for him. But when she looked at Kali, she realized something.

"Crap, Kali is a female. I'm sorry Cosmo."

_Meanwhile_

Shivertail was working in his office, sitting behind his desk. Or more like watching the sun set through the window behind him. He couldn't help be keep looking back through the window to look at the beautiful sight. Then Shivertail felt a presence. He turned around and saw Felenia in front of his desk. She was quite sneaky sometimes.

"Shivertail, I have some important news concerning Star. Please come with me," Felenia quickly informed.

Shivertail stood up and followed Felenia down the hall. He knew there was no point in asking her what was wrong because she would never say a word. So he just obeyed without a word. They made their way down the hall and turned into the room Star was in. Everything seemed peaceful, but Shivertail only saw a gray dragon in the crib in the corner.

"Where's Star?" Shivertail asked, making his way to the crib. He looked down at the baby dragon in confusion. The dragon was gray all over, his wings, his underbelly, even his eyes.

"Sir, don't you see?"

Shivertail saw it as soon as she said it. "This . . . is Star. But how? I thought he was a purple dragon."

"So did I, but I watched him change colors. He was purple, then each of his scales slowly turned to gray. It was some sight some see. I came as fast as I could but I knew he would have already changed colors before you could have made it here." Felenia still seemed a bit uneasy on the whole situation. "If Star isn't a purple dragon, then what is he?"

Shivertail looked down at the one month old child. He seemed to be getting sleepy, so Shivertail kept quiet. "I don't know Felenia, this is something I've never seen before. Maybe Volteer can help us out."

"Or the chronicler," Felenia added.

Shivertail considered her idea, "The chronicler. The dragon that knows all. He could help us very much in this situation." He looked back up at Felenia. "Felenia, I will go to the chronicler and ask him about this dragon. Maybe I can get him to come here to see for himself."

"That sounds like a plan," Felenia happily responded. "But who will take care of your duties while you are gone?"

"My duties are nothing compared to this. Just keep Star safe until I return and don't worry about my duties."

"Yes Shivertail."Felenia looked down to see Star with his eyes shut tight.

_Meanwhile_

"Torch, I'm glad you finally decided to have dinner with me." Micha smiled. She and Torch were sitting at the table in the kitchen with a lit candle in the middle to spice things up. Both of them were eating the same thing, smoked deer with a side of ham and some freshly squeezed lemonade to wash it all down. After all, it wasn't the food that made things good. It was the company.

Torch smiled himself when he saw Micha's smile, "I know. I should spend more time with the one I love instead of the pointless tunnels. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting lately."

"Don't worry about it, let's just enjoy the meal and each other."

It was about time that Torch came to his senses. Micha was getting pretty lonely with him becoming a sudden archeologist and all that. Now that he was back, she was happy.

They slowly enjoyed the meal they had together. Torch brought up the tunnels in a conversation, but wanted to slap himself afterwards for bringing up such a thing. After the meal was over, the two of them strolled outside for a nightly walk under the stars. Finally, Micha got Torch back after a full month of nothing but exploring the tunnels. They finally had some time to themselves.


	29. Cosmo the Bodyguard

Looks like fanfiction is screwing up to me. Nearly every story I click on I end up getting an error message. I assume this is happening to everyone else. Anywho, last update this week. Enjoy! Might be a few spelling errors, didn't proofread it cuz I'm in a hurry.

Chapter 29

Cosmo the Bodyguard

It only took Cosmo just a few hours to move in with Kali. That conversation he had with Cynder really spooked him. The way she talked to him was just intriguing, he couldn't believe what happened. Spyro asked him what was wrong, but Cosmo managed to pull off the excuse that he was excited. Spyro ignored it after all, but he didn't know what had just happened to Cosmo just then.

When Cosmo arrived at Kali's home, music box in paw, he couldn't help but smile. It certainly was bigger, and there was something about this house that made Cosmo think of Kaida. He couldn't place it but for some reason he felt like he was at Kaida's. The house wasn't the same as hers so it wasn't that. The house was only one story and contained three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a good sized living room, a kitchen that just seemed to sparkle, and a well used closet in Kali's bedroom. The living room contained two couches and two rocking chairs with cushioned footrests in front of them. A faded blue mat laid under all the furniture and the dark gray carpet laid underneath that. A fireplace sat in front of all the furniture a few yards away. All homes contained a fireplace for there was no air condition in the dragon realm of course. Random paintings hung on the tan colored wallpaper on the wall. The paintings almost looked new. A hung on the right side of the fireplace, it read nine forty eight. The fireplace itself was made of dark red bricks, the wood inside it looked unused. White lamps sat at both ends of all the furniture, they sat atop a small polished wood table. The wood seemed to be colored darker than what Cosmo was used to seeing. Cosmo saw all of this when he entered the house.

"Well, what do you think?" Kali asked, seeing Cosmo's face. His face was one of surprise and appreciation. "This is the living room. The door to the right," Kali pointed to the right wall at an open doorway. "Is my bedroom. That's where I sleep. In that bedroom is my closet and one of the bathrooms." Kali looked at the door toward the left of the fireplace. It was open too. She pointed and continued, "That's the kitchen, you're welcome to eat anything you find . . . unless I say otherwise but that shouldn't be a problem right?" Then Kali pointed to the left wall at another open doorway. "That's the hall. It's small and holds the other two bedrooms and the other bathroom." Then she turned back to Cosmo. "Well, that's my house. I hope you enjoy it."

Cosmo looked around the living room for a few seconds then finally replied. "It's great Kali. Thanks." Then Cosmo noticed a few more things he missed. There were two windows beside the entrance. He looked through them and saw the empty road. In between the two windows was another tan couch, bigger than all the others and this one had a few stuffed animals on the back part of it. The stuffed animals was leaning up against the window for support so they wouldn't get in anyways way, unless they fell off. Beside the couch was another table which some random decorations etched into the legs, stars to be precise. A white, silky table cloth covered the top of it but it looked like it wasn't being used at the time for nothing else was on top of it other than another lamp like the other ones. Then Cosmo noticed the ceiling fan. It looked like there was dust on it though. It wasn't what Cosmo was used to, but he knew he would adjust.

Kali smiled at Cosmo's expression then walked toward her bedroom. "If you need me I'll be in here."

"Hey," Cosmo said as he noticed something.

Kali stopped and turned her head. "Yes?"

"Where's Isis?" Cosmo noticed that she was missing . . . again.

"Don't worry about her, she can never stay in spot. She's bound to pop up sooner or later."

"Aren't you worried?" Cosmo replied. He sounded as if he was more worried than Kali.

"No," Kali replied. "Isis knows how to keep out of trouble. She used to be an alley cat so she's more than capable than fending for herself if she needs to." But what she didn't know was that Isis used to be dragon. She never told her about the truth. "Well, you can sleep anywhere you feel like sleeping when you get tired. And again, there should be something in the kitchen when you get hungry. But just a heads up, keep an eye out for spoiled food. I haven't been home in a month."

Cosmo nodded. If it had been a month then he felt better off by not eating anything until Kali got all of that straightened out. He really wasn't that hungry at the moment anyways. Before he left Cynder's she gave him a big meal of steak, lamb, deer, heck even some stuff Cosmo didn't recognize. But it was all good. He only had a small glass of wine to wash it down. He wanted wine for some reason but he didn't want to mess himself up. He never understood how some people could just make themselves get drunk. He didn't like the feeling of waking up in the middle of a street with a dress on and a major hangover on top of that and have no idea what happened last night. It was just stupid in his eyes and it only got people killed or thrown in prison.

He wasn't sleepy at the moment so he decided to explore some. He made his way into the open kitchen to find that it was dark. He on the wall beside him and saw a flick switch. He flicked it to the up position and the lights on the ceiling turned on.

The kitchen was a bit smaller than the living room. It had a dark hardwood floor with a light stain near the corner of the kitchen. He guessed there must have been some sort of spill there. The left side of the kitchen contained the stove, fridge, a counter with some cabinets underneath it along with some overhead cabinets that held plates and silverware. There was also a sink with a window over it that looked out into the backyard. There was also type of bar on the wall to Cosmo's right. It was small but was big enough to hold up to three dragons. It was quite interesting for Kali to have something like that. The counter had some basic kitchen supplies on it, a bread box, jars with different spices on them, kitchen knives, empty glass jars bundled together in the corner, and a small notebook that was titled 'recipes'. On the right side of the kitchen was a large wooden table. There was a larger than average bowl on top of it which held some fruits like apples and oranges. Six chairs were set under the table to sit on when eating and another ceiling fan was over the table, similar to the ceiling fan in the living room, but this one had some lights on it to help illuminate the table. The backdoor was located directly behind the table with another window beside it.

Satisfied, Cosmo went back into the living room and turned into the hallway to his right. The hallway was short and on the left wall was a doorway which led into the bathroom. There was a faded yellow bathtub inside with a shower head over it. A square counter was on the left side with had a sink and a mirror hung over it. And of course, the white toilet in between the sink and the bathtub.

Cosmo turned back around and went into the bedroom on the opposite side of the bathroom. The bedroom was about as large as Cynder's bedroom. The bed inside it was big though, almost like a king size to Cosmo. And comfy too. There was a rocking chair next to the bed and a window on the far wall which only looked the building next door. There was a painting over the bed that looked like a tall looming waterfall crashing into the basin below. And not to forget the clock like the one in the living room on the wall on the opposite side of the bed. A fancy looking dresser sat below the clock. On top of it was an empty treasure box. This was where he put his music box, beside the little treasure chest. This was going to be his room for right now.

Cosmo withdrew from the room and checked out the last one at the end of the short hall. It seemed to be the same except it was missing the rocking chair and the painting. It had a clock, but it wasn't ticking like it should. The dresser under it didn't have that little treasure chest either. But the window had a better view of the street. Although Cosmo wasn't into dragons being able to look through the window and see him so he preferred the other room.

The last room was Kali's, but he decided to leave her alone for right now. Instead he walked back into the living room and sat down on the left couch in front of the fireplace and relaxed.

_The next morning_

Cosmo opened his eyes from that strange dream he had. He couldn't remember the details, but it had something to do with Cynder. He shrugged it off and realized that he fell asleep on the couch.

"_Blast it. What's up with me falling asleep on couches instead of beds?_"

Cosmo sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. Everything seemed quiet, and it must have been morning considering all the light that was in the living room. He looked up at the clock and it was only ten minutes past ten.

Cosmo shakily stood to his feet. He wasn't fully awake yet so he was still a little unsteady. Then he noticed a piece of paper on the small table beside the couch he slept on. He didn't remember seeing it there before so he took a look at it.

The note read, "_Cosmo. Me and Isis went to the market to get some good food. We'll be back after a little while. In the meantime, please don't go running off like you did with Spyro and Cynder. I don't want to worry. Oh and good morning and stuff._"

The last part made him grin. He put the note back down and looked over at Kali's room, the last room he had yet to get a look at. He walked over to her room to find the door was open, so he peeked inside. The room was bigger than the one he claimed last night. The bed was on the left wall and was big enough for two dragons to sleep on and there were two dressers the same as the one's in the other two rooms. Above the dressers was a large mirror and beside the mirror was another clock, same as all the others. Since dragons didn't where clothes, he wondered what the dressers were for. To the left of the dressers was the closet. It contained Kali's random belongings whether they were souvenirs from a market or just stuff she wanted to keep with her. Cosmo didn't want to go snooping around though. On the other side of the closet was the bathroom. It was similar to the other one, just bigger and had more stuff in it.

There were two paintings in the room, one over the bed and one beside the door. The painting over the bed was scenery of a grassy meadow with a gentle breeze blowing against the treetops in the background. A few light clouds covered the sky and it looked like there were a few dragons in the distance just enjoying each others company. The other one was a painting of a Kali look alike. Her blue scales, her purple underbelly and purple wings. Her tail looked like a feather at the end, just like Kali's did, and her blue eyes just seemed to sparkle with delight. Kali was standing beside another dragoness. This dragoness had silver scales and her underbelly was a tinted blue. Her horns were straight and they looked like they had some silver coloring in them. The dragoness looked familiar, too familiar.

Cosmo brushed it aside and left the room. He was getting bored so he sat down on the couch, paws on his cheeks, and waited.

And waited.

Until finally around twenty minutes later, the front door opened and Kali entered the house. Cosmo looked back to see her carrying a load of bags on her wings. Cosmo immediately got up and made his way over to her and started taking some of the load off her.

"Thanks," Kali breathed in for some fresh air. "It was startin' to get kind of heavy."

"It's no problem." Cosmo grabbed as many bags as Kali would let him. "Where do you want them?"

"Kitchen counter," she said. The two of them made their way to the counter then both of them began placing the bags on it. There were eight bags in all. "Phew, thanks for the help Cosmo." She scratched a spot behind her left horn that itched and continued. "So, how are things so far?"

Cosmo opened his mouth, smiled, then went on, "It's great Kali. I couldn't ask for more." He looked around and noticed that the cat wasn't around. "Where's Isis?"

"Cynder's," Kali replied. "Heaven knows why."

Cosmo stayed quiet while he watched Kali put the food she got from the market in their appropriate places. She put the meat in the freezer to begin with. Then she walked over to the table on the right side of the room and picked up the bowl with all the fruits inside it. She examined the fruits, took a sniff, then brought the bowl over to the trash can and dumped all its contents. She brought the bowl to the group of bags on the counter and looked through a few until she found the fruit. She then managed to place all the fruit she had into the bowl then placed it back on the table.

"Glad you didn't eat any of that. It was spoiling."

"It's all right," Cosmo replied not knowing what else to say at that particular moment. He watched her put a jug of milk in the fridge, along with some cartons of different kinds of juice. Then some cheese in a drawer and some tomatoes and grapes went on the bottom shelf of the fridge. She closed the fridge then began restocking the cupboards. Then Cosmo found himself just staring at Kali. Her blue scales was just beautiful to Cosmo's eye, and her belly made his heart rate increase just by looking.

"_What am I doing? Why do I find this exciting?_" Cosmo forced himself to look away. What was happening to him? Did mating season affect males too? Even if it did, the season wasn't even here yet, so why was he admiring Kali? Then the thought of when they first met came to his mind. Not the battle, the kiss Kali shared not once but twice. Cosmo sighed deeply. Was he falling in love? Was he so used to being a dragon that he started to like nearly every female that crossed his path?

"Cosmo!" Cosmo snapped to attention. Kali was looking at him with a face he seen a few times from Cynder before. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Cosmo replied. "Just thinking."

"Alright, just making sure. You just seemed to be in another world for a second." Kali finished putting up some wine she bought in the cupboard under the bar then asked with a concerned tone. "Are you happy here?"

Cosmo looked up at her then slowly smiled, "What makes you ask such a silly question? Of course I'm happy. I have more than a few friends and those friends wouldn't ever mind if I lived with them." That wasn't what Cosmo wanted to say exactly, but it had the same point.

Kali frowned in return. "Do you really think so?" Cosmo looked up at her eyes as she continued. "Do you really think of me as your friend?"

"Of course I do Kali."

Kali's voice seemed to shrivel up, "But . . . I tried to . . . hurt you. I threw you in a prison and didn't even bother to visit you."

"Kali," Cosmo interrupted making her stop. "It wasn't your fault. You had no choice but to do that because Phantom made you. You let me escape remember? I was stuck between a rock and a hard place and you helped me, not once but twice."

"Twice?" Kali seemed a little less upset.

Cosmo nodded with the same smile he shown her earlier, "You helped me out of the forest, and you gave me a place to live. What more could I ask of you?"

"But . . . you already had a place to live, or I thought you did. Did you?"

"Yes, but there was some . . . complications so to speak. Cynder convinced me that I would be better off right here for a little while until she gets some things cleared up. I didn't want to get in her way so I took you up on your offer."

Kali went quiet for a moment. She made her way back around the bar so she wouldn't have an obstacle in her way while she spoke. "But it wasn't my idea at first." She admitted in a quieter voice. "It was Isis's idea."

"Isis? Well, it doesn't matter right now."

An hour passed after that conversation ended. Cosmo was sitting on the couch, bored out of his mind and silently begging whoever was listening for something to do.

Kali was in her bedroom for the moment, probably reading a book or what female dragons did in their privacy.

Then Cosmo heard something. Finally something to do! But he didn't even know what it was yet. He listened again, and found out there was a knocking on the window behind him. Cosmo looked, and it was Isis looking through the window, using her paw to knock on the glass. Cosmo made his way to the door and opened it for her and let her inside before closing it back again.

"Hey," Isis simply greeted.

"You little bugar. So it was your idea for me to come live here now was it?" His voice was a little on the quiet side.

"What?" Isis replied in her usual sound of tone. "Well, only reason why was because of Phantom. When Phantom finds out Kali is missing from the prison then he'll most likely come looking for her here. If you really want to know your part in this, you're like a bodyguard for her right now."

"What? Are you insane?" Cosmo was a bit louder this time and sounded offended.

"Hey, now is a good time to put all that training we did to good use. You wasn't training for no reason you know and I certainly can't protect her."

Cosmo tried to object to that, "But, I only know three elements so far. My training isn't even done."

"Three elements is more than what ninety percent of the residents in Warfang knows. So if you were to get into a massive battle, you would have one of the highest percentages of surviving. This bodyguard job is just part of your training." Isis looked down for a few seconds then continued. "And I wanted someone to talk to. Someone like me and you're the only one who fitted into that."

Isis walked over to the couch and jumped on top of it and began curling up. Cosmo quietly walked over to her. "So being a bodyguard is like, my job?"

"You can say that," Isis replied as she closed her eyelids. "You know, being a cat has its advantages, but it has its disadvantages too."

"How so?" Cosmo asked just to hear what she had to say.

"Well, did you know that cats sleep for an average of twenty hours a day? So if you'll excuse me, I have a nap to catch up on."

"Really?" Cosmo asked as he thought about that fact.

Isis shrugged her shoulders the best she could, "How should I know."


	30. Maybe Next Time Cute Stuff

Chapter 30

Maybe Next Time Cute Stuff

_11:21 A.M. _

_Date: ?_

The hillside stood tall and flowed with fresh grass. The sky was a different story. The wind was blowing and the sky was a dark red. Stars could be seen in the sky which shouldn't have been possible at the time. It was also a cloudless sky yet there was a slight drizzle of rain coming down. Looked like the purple dragon had some work to do. Find out where this evil was and destroy it. It was his destiny so he had been told by the guardians. It was why he was born. To repel the darkness that threatened to claim this world. It was his time to act.

The dragon made his way across the land to that forsaken place. The place known as the Parched Desert. The desert was also known to have a secret. Somewhere hidden underneath the desert was said to contain riches for anyone's pleasure. But it was only a myth and this particular dragon wasn't interested in it. There were other matters at hand that needed his attention.

The dragon traveled for hours yet never seemed to tire out. He flew over a forest, by a mountain range, over a swamp, and finally took a breather on an island somewhere in the ocean. He traveled a long way and the island looked pretty well deserted. He was used to desertion. Everyone he met made fun of him, calling him a freak. It wasn't his fault his body could do the things it did in his early days. But he was able to control it eventually and use it to his own advantage.

A few minutes was all it took to feel revived and ready for another go. So he took off of the small island, decorated with a few palm trees and hills, and headed toward the west. It could barely be seen from the island but the desert was just across the remainder of the ocean. The waves seemed to be a bit wild due to the wind blowing abnormally but he didn't pay much attention to it. His eyes were ahead on the cloud of darkness forming in the desert. This was it, now or never.

The dragon entered the cold feeling desert and landed a few yards away from the cloud of darkness. The dragon looked up into the red sky, inhaled deeply, then exhaled after a second expired. He looked back down at the cloud of darkness looming in front of him, then began walking towards it at a steady pace. The darkness engulfed the dragon and the purple reptile never emerged.

_Present Day_

_Velxtra Forest_

He was aghast, angry, steaming with rage. Why? The one he firmly told to stay put did the opposite. He should have known better than to trust someone like that, so why did he?

The black dragon slammed the door shut so hard that it left it crack at the top hinge. Empty, the cell was empty. Cosmo escaped and Kali nor her cat was nowhere to be seen.

"_Looks as if Kali figured out my scheme. She knows her brother isn't alive and now I've got __nothing to work with._"

He figured it out by a crumpled up document thrown in the corner of the room Kali stayed in. He had opened it up to find it was a list of dragons who died on a particular date, Her brother, Balkner, was on that list. How she obtained this document was a mystery but it didn't matter much now. The black dragon left the prison and headed for the city to go for a hunt. And Kali was his prey.

_Two Weeks Later_

_Kali's Home_

_9:42 A.M._

Things were going rather well for Cosmo. The rebuilding of the city was coming along nicely and most of the repairs were nearly complete now. So many dragons were working to help rebuild the city again and it was finally paying off. There were only a few more places in Warfang which were damaged.

Cosmo had been doing some training himself. He finally learned the element of earth with Spyro's help and could now use four elements. Kaida said he would learn even more of them but he decided not to push himself, or did she say that he could only learn a few of all the elements? He wondered about his powers at one point in time. He could see in the dark if he chose to. He figured out how he could turn off his 'night vision' whenever he wanted to and his strength ability seemed to come and go now. Maybe he had to learn to control his two abilities too?

"No, please," Cosmo groaned in his sleep. He tossed and turned on his bed, obviously a victim of some force in his dream.

It wasn't long until someone saved him from those dreams. Cosmo woke up, feeling someone shake him by the shoulder. Cosmo opened his eyes and had to wait for them to adjust until he could see clearly. The blue dragoness that was taking care of him was giving him a concerned look.

"You alright?" Kali asked, pulling back her paw she used to wake Cosmo.

Cosmo sat upright and rubbed in between his two horns on his head. "Yeah, just was having one of those dreams that didn't make any sense at all." Cosmo sat still for a few more moments then continued. "I was dreaming about Kaida."

Kali felt for her friend for a moment, feeling heartbroken herself. "Yeah . . . Kaida." Kali closed her eyes as if she were thinking back in time. Kali's headed tilted downwards unintentionally, then a sudden jolt of pain made her come back to reality. "Golly that stings," Kali rubbed that back of her neck with a free paw.

Cosmo looked back over at Kali and sternly asked, "What's wrong?"

Kali shook her head as she rubbed that spot that hurt on her neck. "Oh, it's nothing . . . really. Just slept wrong I guess."

Cosmo moved over and sat all the way up so he could try to get a better look, "Doesn't look like nothing. How long has your neck been hurting like that?"

"I don't know, few days maybe." Kali realized she wasn't rubbing that spot anymore. She put her paw back down to help support her weight then continued, "Well, let's go make some breakfast."

"Sorry," Cosmo stopped her from taking a step. He fell off the bed and landed on his feet. "Can't let you, not while you're in pain."

Kali looked back at Cosmo with a stoic look. "I suppose you are going to make it then?"

"Nope," Cosmo smiled. "I'm going to help you."

"How?" Kali seemed more interested in what he was planning.

Cosmo sounded more serious, "Simple, get on the bed and lay on your belly. I'll do the rest."

Kali looked at the bed Cosmo was just in. She shrugged and did what she was told. She hopped on the bed and laid on her belly with a pillow and her two front paws under chin. She looked back at Cosmo, then Cosmo hopped up on the bed with her and nearly laid right on top of her, his right paw and leg were on the right side of her and his left paw and leg was on the left side. Kali felt Cosmo's weight on her back but didn't mind. He wasn't all that heavy anyways.

"What are you doing?" Kali asked out of curiosity. "I'm flattered but mating season has started yet."

Cosmo jaw dropped then he shook his head clear of those thoughts. "No Kali, I'll just show you what I'm going to do."

"Show me? Show me wha . . . oh, oooohh that's what you . . . mmmm." Kali groaned with pleasure.

"Little morning massage helps doesn't it?" Cosmo chuckled as he began putting light pressure on some of the tense parts of Kali's neck.

"Oh yeah," was her only reply before Cosmo continued going back to work. Kali was beginning to feel relief in her neck already. A few slow but happy moments passed before Kali continued. "That's the spot, you didn't have to do this you know."

Cosmo shook his head as he positioned himself better. "It's not a problem, you've been helping me so it's the least I can do." Cosmo positioned himself in the right spot on Kali and continued his work.

"Well then thanks." Kali replied then felt Cosmo's warm paw on her neck again. It was challenging for Cosmo to do this with paws, but he guessed he was managing to do something right because Kali was sure acting like she was enjoying it. The noises she was making also kind of gave it away that she was feeling good. Cosmo knew he hit a right spot when Kali let out a quiet moan of relief. He smiled, worked out the kinks in that spot, and continued on with his work.

Then Cosmo heard, "Hey Kali, I noticed breakfast hasn't started so . . ."

Cosmo looked to his left to see Isis standing in the doorway, mouth agape. Cosmo looked down and realized the position he was in. "Wait, this isn't what it looks like I swear."

"Like, holy crap Cosmo. I . . . you . . . you could at least close the door and put a ribbon or something on the doorknob."

Kali smiled at Isis and didn't reply. She only looked up at Cosmo who was still on top of her back.

"I don't want to know the details," Isis loudly replied then fled back into the living room.

Cosmo lifted his paws as if he was about to protest then yelled out, "Hey! In my defense . . ." The yellow dragon looked down at Kali, then let his paws droop back down. "Ah screw it."

"Don't worry about her," Kali softly said. "It's not like we were actually . . . you know." Then Kali managed to roll herself under Cosmo so she was laying on her back. Cosmo either didn't care to stop her or didn't want to stop her. Kali rubbed the back of neck in relief. "Thanks for that. My neck feels so much better now."

Cosmo's face lit up a bit, "Really?"

Kali nodded, "Sure is, all because you helped me."

Cosmo looked down at the dragon's face. "At least this time we're not against each other."

Kali frowned for a moment before realizing what he meant. "Oh, you mean the alley." She tilted her head a little bit. "I still feel a little guilty about that." She looked down to avoid eye contact as she remembered what she tried to do to him.

"Hey, it's alright," Cosmo assured. Kali looked back into Cosmo's eyes while he continued. "I'm still here. And you can't forget that it wasn't your fault. If I were in your position, I would have done the same thing."

Not really sure to be happy or worried about that statement, she smiled nevertheless. "Thanks for putting up with me." Her voice sounded low and softer than before.

"It should be me thanking you for that," Cosmo responded. He looked into her sparkling eyes with a smile while Kali looked into his. The moment lasted longer than just a moment however. A few minutes passed actually. Both of them lost deep in each others thoughts.

Finally Kali broke the silence, "Well, we should go get breakfast going."

Cosmo looked down at Kali's purple chest then looked back up at her eyes. "Are you sure? We could just relax a few more minutes."

Kali smiled at the idea but shook her head. "C'mon cute stuff." She padded his right paw with hers. "We gotta get breakfast going."

"Cute stuff? First time I've been called that."

"I am shocked," Kali sarcastically replied. "Still gotta get breakfast going." She wriggled her body under Cosmo as a sign that she wanted up. "Can't lift you by myself."

"Oh really?" Cosmo smirked. He yawned and stretched his wings out for comfort. "I'm still a bit tired and you are pretty soft."

Kali cocked an eye, "What are you, no wait!" She squealed but it was too late. Cosmo fell forwards and trapped Kali underneath him with his head buried in the pillow her head was on. She breathed in, then back out. "Okay Cosmo the jokes over." She tried to free herself but Cosmo wouldn't let her. She could picture him laughing right about now. "C'mon I need to get up."

"I'm just trying to get some sleep." Then Cosmo began letting out a fake, playful, snoring.

Kali only laid there, helpless for a few moments until she smiled. "Hey Cosmo," Kali placed a paw on Cosmo's side. "I'm getting a little fired up."

Cosmo continued his snoring.

Kali began sliding her paw down Cosmo's side then used her other paw and placed it on his chest the best she could. Then she freed one of her legs and wrapped it around Cosmo's lower waist.

Cosmo stirred then, "Hey what are doing?" He quietly asked in surprise so Isis couldn't hear him.

"What does it look like? I'm getting all fired up with you laying on me like this," she said as she began feeling Cosmo's chest over. Cosmo rapidly blinked a few times then felt something coming toward his 'private quarters' area.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Cosmo exclaimed as he stumbled to get off the bed as fast as he could. He partly failed to escape when he slipped off the covers and his head hit the floor. Soon after the rest of his body came with him. Cosmo only laid there, groaning in shock.

"You okay Cosmo?" Cosmo could hear her giggling through his own groaning with ease.

"I'll live, hopefully," was Cosmo's only reply.

Kali finished laughing it up then got up to her feet and went toward the door. Cosmo flinched as Kali stepped over him to get by him for he was sprawled out in the floor. "When you recover from your shock, I'll see you in the kitchen."

Cosmo waved her off without even looking then lifelessly let his arm back down to the floor. He was tricked, or was he? Would she have kept going if he let her or was it all a trick to get him to get off her? Cosmo lifted his head and looked at the doorway. After a few minutes in thought, he forced himself to his feet and he made his way into the kitchen.

He turned into the kitchen to see Kali cooking up an omelet. Cosmo showed her how to cook one up when he first moved in, it made him glad to see her cooking one up by herself with ease. Kali smiled as she Cosmo enter the kitchen.

"Grab me a plate if you would."

Cosmo walked beside her and looked in the overhead cabinet and retrieved a smooth wooden polished plate from a stack. He set it down beside the pan Kali was using to cook the omelet. Kali picked up the pan and slid the omelet on top the plate, set the pan back down in its spot, then turned a couple knobs on the stove. The omelet was big enough to feed her, Cosmo, and Isis if she wanted some. The omelet had some toppings which included some ham, deer, and cheese. A combination Cosmo hadn't tried yet but knew it had to be good considering he liked all three of them.

"That was quick," Cosmo said he smelled the omelet.

"Yeah these things don't take that long to cook, luckily we had a few leftovers from last night so I just added them into the omelet."

"Smells delicious." Then Cosmo heard a knock on the door. Whoever it was knocked hard and did it three times. "Who could that be?"

"Could you get it?" Kali asked as she walked toward the fridge. "I'll pour the drinks."

"Alright," Cosmo began but the banging on the door continued. "Coming!"

Before Cosmo even walked by the couch the banging went on. "Jeez, someone could use some patience." Cosmo said as he turned the doorknob and opened the door. When he saw who was at the door, Cosmo's heart skipped a beat.

Kali was in the kitchen when she heard Cosmo yell. Kali knew it was trouble and threw whatever she had on the floor, glass or not. She ran out the kitchen become shocked but expectant.

Cosmo was leaning back up against the couch in front the fireplace with a black dragon in his face. The black dragon's red eyes pierced into his mind until Kali showed up.

"Phantom! I knew you would show up sooner or later!" Kali remarkably said. She made her way beside Cosmo to comfort him for he looked frightened. Cosmo felt little relief.

"I see you still got Cosmo with you," Phantom deviously smiled. "So tell me Cosmo, where is he?"

Cosmo looked up at the black dragon with confusion, "What are you talking about?" His voice sounded stern.

"You know what I'm talking about. He's the only reason why you're here. To protect him, but without the other five you're useless against the oncoming darkness. So I'll ask you again, where is the dragon of legend?"

"Spyro?" Kali replied in question. "What do you want with him?"

"Not Spyro," Phantom relented. "The dragon that was born by the six spirit guardians who's role is to repel a darkness not even the purple dragon can hope to destroy."

"What?" Kali went as she looked down. "I thought there was none more powerful than Spyro. You're saying there's an even more powerful dragon out there?"

Phantom chuckled as if he wasn't even an enemy for a moment. "I'm afraid there's something that the purple dragon hasn't told you. If I wasn't so busy I would take you back to those woods Kali, lucky you." Kali looked over at Cosmo and put a paw on his. Phantom didn't seem to take notice as he looked at Cosmo, "It seems I've told you too much." Phantom turned and began to make his leave, until Cosmo rushed him.

"Cosmo no!" Kali warned, but it was too late. Cosmo tackled Phantom to the ground with ease, even thought Phantom was a bit smaller than Cosmo, he was expecting him to be a bit harder to take down, looks like he was wrong. Or was he?

Phantom laughed while he was pinned to the ground, "You fool, looks like you'll have to learn the hard way. Phantom only closed his eyes for a short second then Cosmo felt electricity coursing through him for a few seconds. Cosmo helplessly vibrated to the ground then began breathing heavily. Kali knelt down beside him and place an arm around him.

"Phantom!" Kali only managed to say before Phantom cut her off.

"You should have known better than to try and take me on as you are now Cosmo. I wouldn't rush things, for like I said to you before." Phantom swiftly stood to his feet and continued. "You're going to be here for a very long time so you better get used to all this."

Kali looked down at Cosmo, he looked hurt but he was going to be fine if he got some rest. When she looked back up, Phantom had vanished. She looked back down at Cosmo to see him with his eyes shut, sleeping from the looks of things.


	31. What's Kali's Secret?

Chapter 31

What's Kali's Secret?

_Time: 4:30 P.M.?_

_Date: Unknown_

The purple dragon looked all around him. He already hated the position and place he was in. After the dark clouds engulfed him, the hero found himself in some other world or place. But this place looked exactly the same as the Parched Desert, only the sky was dark and the purple clouds were swirling over him. It wasn't raining her though, instead he had to deal with whatever force was against him.

The dragon began his walk, staying alert for anything suspicious. He moved slow at first then gradually moved a little faster as the time passed. The desert was colder than what a desert supposed to be but he didn't complain. That was the last thing he needed, a battle against the heat. A few cactus later, he found someone. A dragon laying on the sand ahead.

The hero ran over to him and was about to check for signs of life until he noticed something. The dragon was a dark being. The purple dragon took a few steps back, noticing a dark smoke exiting the dark beings body. It would dissipate quickly in the air but it was a sure sign that this dragon had been infected. It was best to steer clear of him and continue on, there was no hope of saving someone who was infected. The only thing he could was destroy the source, a large crystal which contained this worlds power. But getting to it wouldn't be a walk through the park.

The hero began walking again, taking notice of his surroundings again. It looked as if the desert could go on until the world's edge and the sky was still as horrible looking as it was before. No stars, no moon, no wildlife, just empty. The dragon didn't have trouble seeing through the desert through the darkness though. It seemed as if the very ground was a small light source. This place sure was creepy in it's own way.

But the purple dragon heard a noise behind him. He turned but it was too late before the same dark being who was on the ground earlier had jumped him and tackled him to the ground, pinning the hero to the ground. The dark being let out a gurgled cry that hurt the dragons eardrums making him counter with a claw to the side of the dark beings face. But it didn't effect him, it was as if the physical attack went through him but yet, the purple dragon could see red blood escaping through the wound. At least the screaming cry stopped.

The dark being looked back down at his foe and dug his claws into the dirt. The purple dragon tried to escape from the pin but it wasn't enough, his foe's claws were holding him in place. The hero's only option was the one he began to do. He grabbed the dark beings head, and snapped it.

The dark being fell limp and the dragon escaped from underneath the lifeless body. He didn't want to kill him but he had no choice. He was told he couldn't save everyone, yet he didn't know that he was going to murder them. The purple dragon shook his head to himself and shut the open eyes of dark dragon and left him on the dark desert sands.

_Present Time_

_Kali's Home_

_11:28 A.M._

It was a secret. Something she didn't know would bug her until now. She had to get it out in the open and tell Cosmo the truth, once he woke up at least. All of this was Phantoms fault. Kali didn't want anymore dead friends or family, she already went through too much. She lost her brother and was tricked into almost killing a friend. There was no telling where her family was, either alive or dead, she didn't know. Balkner was dead even before she attacked Cosmo in the alley that day. Her sister had also recently died, which was what Kali wanted to talk to Cosmo about.

Kali sat next to Cosmo on the bed. Cosmo was sleeping in her bed, in her room for it was closer when Cosmo was knocked out. Seemed as if he was getting beat up lately. Kali looked in front of her and looked at a portrait on the wall. The painting of her and another silver scaled dragon. They were both smiling in it and was enjoying the company of each other, now that wouldn't ever happen again. The deaths came so sudden and struck so quickly, Kali didn't doubt that she was the last in her family line. Seemed the Hackshire family had only one member left in it. Kali Hackshire, she never told Cosmo her last name. It didn't ever seem to matter so she never brought it up. Didn't ever seem to matter.

Kali sat back closer to Cosmo and put a purple wing over her friend. Cosmo stirred for a moment then went back to being motionless except from the rising and falling in his chest from his breathing. There was another secret she wanted to tell him, it was more obvious than her other secret but she wanted to say something anyways. She didn't know if Cosmo really knew if she actually liked him.

While Cosmo and Kali dealt with Phantom, Isis was in the kitchen. She heard the commotion and decided to stay back. Then when Phantom disappeared, she did the best she could in helping Cosmo onto the bed. She was most likely sleeping somewhere in the house by now.

Kali shook away the fantasies from her mind. Why would Cosmo like her back? She tried to kill him. When she mentally returned to her bedroom she found herself really close to Cosmo now. How did that happen? Her wing was still over him and covering him up from the neck down to his waist area. After the waist, the covers did the rest. The blue dragoness just watched him, for a moment. Just watching him breath.

She thought back to the day they met, before the alley. Cosmo was at Lateef's, looking down for some reason when she showed up posing as a worker from the restaurant. Cosmo was just sitting at a table. He didn't have any food nor did he want any. Kali asked him to leave in case a customer might want his table. She was expecting Cosmo to snap at her but he only smiled and was nice about it. Something she didn't expect. Something she immediately liked about him. Somehow she managed to get Cosmo to follow her into that alley while hiding a knife she obtained from her house before she left. She hid it in her wing. Luckily Cosmo fought back, defended himself, and was saved by a arrow which was fired by someone she didn't know. Someone who was in a dark cloak.

Kali returned to her senses and looked back down at Cosmo. Odd, he wasn't smiling before she put a wing around him. She only smiled in return and laid back on the bed beside him. She didn't want to leave him.

Soon, Kali found herself falling asleep from laying on the bed. She didn't even feel that tired and yet, here she was, falling asleep in bed. A few more minutes later, she finally fell asleep.

Cosmo creaked his eyes opened, feeling a little sore in his joints. He quietly yawned and realized where he was, Kali's room. He moved a paw from under the covers and was about to get up, then realized that wasn't a cover at all. He looked over beside him and saw Kali, sleeping with worry on her face. Cosmo looked back at the wing that laid over him, laid his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes.

_Meanwhile_

_Tathric Range_

"Glad to see that he has changed colors," Aruto said with relief behind his usual desk in the dojo. Most of everyone was outside except for him and Frederick who was speaking with him. "But if this indeed true, then that means that the same darkness from the era before ours is returning. It may even already be here."

Frederick watched Aruto begin digging through some of the compartments of his desk. "Any idea where this darkness may be? I could go scout it out if you need me to."

Aruto pulled out a black book from a compartment and placed it on the center of his desk. Frederick seen this book before, it was the one Aruto said he found and it told of the spirit guardians. "No Frederick, this darkness is something else, something bigger. And if the darkness is in the same place as it was told in the story in this book, then it is a long ways away. Could take us a few days to get there, but a dragon could get there in a few hours if he flies nonstop which I don't see happening. You see, the terrain will slow us down and you have to cross a body of water. A dragon can fly over it but we would have to go around it. We would also have to climb over these mountains which may take all day."

Frederick nodded, placing a hand on the corner of the desk for support, "I understand. So what is the place where the darkness was in the story?"

Aruto opened the book and quickly found the page he was looking for thanks to a bookmark he left. He turned the book around and slid it toward Frederick for him to see himself. "Parched Desert was where it all happened, when I found that out Isaac brought me a map of this entire land he got a hold of in the city. Anyways, according to this map, there is no Parched Desert."

Frederick looked back up at Aruto, "Are you saying Parched Desert doesn't exist?"

Aruto sat back in his chair and twisted the right end of his gray mustache, "Aye, that is exactly what I'm saying. The only desert I came across on that map was a desert called the Oasis of Riches. Parched Desert isn't on this map."

Frederick immediately replied, taking his hand off the desk, "Just because it isn't on the map doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I'll find it myself if I have to."

Aruto grinned and leaned forward, "So you're willing to find it?"

Frederick nodded, "Yes, I am willing to find it."

Aruto looked down at the black book, retrieved and closed it then offered it to Frederick, "Then you may need this, I've been reading it but that can wait. Finding the desert is more important. This is a large and serious task Frederick. Are you sure you're ready to take on something like this?"

Frederick looked at the book that Aruto was offering. He would be gone for ten days minimum, that's if he finds it quickly and returns back home. It was indeed, a serious task but an honorable one. Frederick reached out with his right hand, and grabbed the book. "Yes Aruto, it's an honor."

Aruto smiled for a moment then returned to a more serious look, "You'll probably need this map as well. But Isaac can carry that."

"Isaac?" Frederick looked at the book for a moment then looked back at Aruto with a cocked eyebrow.

Aruto leaned back in his chair again and placed two hands on the back of his head with his elbows stretching both ways. "Aye, this quest shouldn't be taken alone. Isaac and Rita can accompany you. You know Rita, smart and deadly with a bow."

"And Isaac?"

"Isaac does well with the sword, does it really matter? It's best if you don't go alone so you go insane from being alone for two weeks straight."

Frederick couldn't help but utter a chuckle. He tried to hide it but Aruto knew he did it. "I see what you mean."

"Good . . . good. Now go get those two and tell them that I've got a job for them."

_Meanwhile_

Spyro was still in Cynder's house. They were basically living together now for Spyro rarely went back to his own home. He didn't want to leave her side and she didn't seem to mind. The time from where the dark and mysterious figure spying on Cynder made its comeback. He still had no idea who that was. Cosmo said that he met him earlier that day and he attacked Kaida for a package. What was in that package he never found out but it was for Shivertail so it must have been some important documents or something. Maybe the stranger was looking for answers and he thought the answers he sought out was in the box?

He didn't get to ponder on the subject too long before there was a knock on the door. Spyro stood to his feet and paced over to the door and slowly opened it. It was Felenia, the caretaker of Star.

"Oh hey Felenia, what's up?" Spyro diligently asked.

"Got some news for you and Cynder. Is she around?" Felenia replied, peeking into the house.

"Yeah, one second," Spyro said then turned around and walked to the doorway to Cynder's room. "Hey Cynder, Felenia is here."

Spyro began walking back to the door and was closely followed by Cynder.

Felenia began to tell the news when the two of them seemed to be comfortable. "Alright, you know how Star was a purple dragon?" The two dragons in front of her nodded their heads. "Well," she fidgeted for a short second then continued, "Turns out he isn't a purple dragon. He somehow changed colors the other night."

The black and purple dragon exchanged glances then Spyro began for both of them, "What do you mean he changed? Like poof he's a different color change?"

Felenia looked up with her eyes in thought, "Yeah pretty much." She looked back down at the two dragons. "His scales slowly changed from purple to gray. Even his underbelly and horns."

"So what is Star?" Cynder interrupted hoping she would know the answer.

"Don't know yet. This is all meant to be kept a secret except from you two, the original owners of the egg. Shivertail has recently left the city and is journeying to the Chronicler. He thinks he may know who Star really is."

"The Chronicler," Spyro repeated. "Haven't seen him in a while. Is he coming here? To the city?"

Felenia nodded, "Yes, he should be. It may be a few days until his arrival though."

"I've heard of him," Cynder added in. "Haven't really met him though."

Felenia looked back onto the streets, "Well, I must be going. It's my job to look after Star until Shivertail returns so I must go do the duty he left me with."

"Wait," Cynder began, stopping Felenia. "Star is by himself?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Felenia responded, she could see relief in Cynder's face. "I left him with one of the maids for the time being, and do you know how many guards are in that building?"

Cynder forced herself to laugh a short second, "Yeah, I did get ahead of myself. Sorry."

"It's no problem Cynder. If you two need anything or just want to see Star then you are more than welcome to do so."

Spyro nodded, "Alright Felenia, thanks for the news."

_Time: 4:42 A.M.?_

_Date: Unknown_

The hero made his way across the desert to a place he spotted a few minutes earlier. It looked like some sort of scructure, a tower to be more specific. The tower looked old but he couldn't tell from his position. He was about a kilometer and half away from it. The dragon sucked in his gut and began walking. Then something popped up out of the sand. Something small and looked as if it was electrical. The dragon's eyes widened and his only reaction was to dive to the ground. His body hit the sand and the round object suddenly exploded. The area all around the mine was filled with electricity. The hero kept his eyes shut as it all happened and it all subsided a few seconds later.

The purple dragon took his paws off his head and carefully stood back to his feet. He was walking in a bloody minefield from the looks of it. He really didn't want to fly for it could attract unwanted attention but he didn't see any other way around it. He didn't know where the mines were, they could be surrounding the whole tower for all he knew. But the dragon had an idea of how he could camouflage himself.

The spread his black wings and took his path towards the darkened sky. Soon afterwards, his scales turned to black just like the dark being he fought against earlier. The black dragon smiled as he stealthily made his way over the desert minefield.


	32. Ancient Documents, Two Sisters & a Cold

Chapter 32

Ancient Documents, Two Sisters, And A Cold

Kali woke up, not noticing how happy she was. She yawned, stretched, and looked beside her. Cosmo was awake and showing a smile, still under the safety of her wing.

"Morning," Kali greeted, forgetting to look at the clock. It was a little past twelve.

"Morning," Cosmo replied, just playing along. "Sleep well?"

Kali nodded while showing another yawn. "More importantly," Kali finished her yawn. "How are you?"

"I feel great Kali," Cosmo stayed still until Kali removed her wing away from him. Then he looked back at Kali. Kali noticed a look of disappointment in his face, then lowered her wing back on top of Cosmo for him to snuggle up in. He just couldn't fight the feelings anymore. He was a true dragon and his past didn't matter anymore. How did he even know that was his past? Maybe he really was a dragon and just had a strange and long dream. He didn't let his thoughts get in the way though. He just relaxed.

After a few minutes, he recalled what had happened to him earlier in the day. It was Phantom's doings that got him in the position he was in now. He just would have had to thank him for that later. Phantom also said that he was going to be in the dragon world for a very long time. Well that scratched out the being a dragon the whole time idea. But he thought he heard someone else say that to him.

"_That's right! That guy behind Cynder's house told me the same thing. And Phantom's exact words was 'Like I said before, you're going to be staying her for a very long time'. Like I said before, that figure in the woods must have been him. If that was so then that was the same dragon who attacked me and Kaida on that forest trail. Yeah, that all makes sense._"

Cosmo looked over at Kali to see her with her eyes shut. She wasn't sleeping, he could tell. "_I wonder why Phantom is here._"

"Hey Kali," Cosmo said in a quiet sort of voice.

Kali looked over at Cosmo and opened her dark blue eyes, "What?" Her voice was in the same volume as his.

A few seconds passed before Cosmo continued, "Do you know why Phantom is here? Or why he was after me?" Cosmo looked back down to where his feet would be. "He said that I couldn't face him without the other five, I don't know what." His voice trailed off.

"I don't know why he is here, but I do know that he is a liar." Kali looked persistent to tell him this. "He told me he held my brother hostage but it turned out that he was long dead along with my sister. He told me he tried to help my sister out but she rejected it and got killed. I don't believe that, it was that tornado's fault that happened."

"You had a sister?" Cosmo asked in surprise. "I did not know that."

Kali looked at the clock in front of her for a short second before saying, "I'm probably the last one remaining in the Hackshire family."

"Your last name is Hackshire?" Cosmo shifted positions on his spot without moving much. "Kali Hackshire."

"Yes," Kali went quiet for a few seconds, building up some courage. "There's something I want to tell you Cosmo." She looked over at him in the eyes. "I . . . like you."

Cosmo didn't know how to react to that. "You uh . . . like me? Well, I kinda like you too."

"And I want to tell you the truth," Kali continued. "I noticed you had a music box in your room."

"What does the music box have to do with anything Kali?" Cosmo replied, sounding out of the zone.

"Truth is, my family had a music box just like that. It played a melody made by my ancestors. Well anyways," she sighed then continued. "Point is, before me, my brother and my sister came to the city. Our parents gave us the music box. They said that it was magical or something and if we ever wanted to talk to our ancestors we only need to play the music box. I didn't believe in the supernatural so I offered it to my sister."

Cosmo waited for her to continue but couldn't help it, "What are you getting at?"

Kali turned her head and pointed at the portrait on the wall of her and a silver dragon. "You see the picture on the wall? Doesn't the silver dragon look familiar?"

Cosmo squinted then grew wide-eyed.

Kali continued. "Do you know what Kaida's last name was?" Cosmo looked up at her, waiting for the answer he already knew. Then Kali finally answered. "Kaida's first and last name . . . Kaida Hackshire."

_Time: 4:53 P.M.?_

_Date:Unknown_

The black scaled hero flapped his wings as quietly as he could with death looming just a few yards under him. He looked at the dark tower ahead of him, it looked as if the clouds above it were swirling as a sign that this was the source. The source of all this madness. Whoever was doing this was going to pay for his wretched ways.

The tower looked ten stories tall. A concrete wall surrounded the whole tower except the front, which was where the dark beings would go in and out the premises. Windows were seen on the slim tower every few floors, barricaded with bars from the looks of it. The tower seemed to get fatter as the floors went up. The top was larger than the base of the tower.

As the hero drew closer to the scene, he saw more dark beings surrounding the tower. There must have been fifty, no, a hundred of them. They were everywhere and the black dragon knew he couldn't fight all them. There had to be another way inside without attracting their attention.

He hovered in one spot in the sky, hoping his black scales would camouflage him as he thought about what he had to do. He looked at the scene from the distance. He could see the entrance to the tower, but it was heavily guarded by the dark beings. It was like looking into a dark fog for there was so many. There was no way he could get inside without being spotted, but maybe he could still get inside regardless of that.

The dragon was struck by an idea. But it was risky and it was all he could think of at the moment. He already looked like them right now as long as his whole body was black, maybe he could slip by them and get inside. He tried to think of something else, maybe there was an open window he could climb into. He circles around the tower while keeping his distance, but all the windows were all barricaded with bars. If only one of the six were here, he could then have him bend the bars with his ability. Each one of the six could have his own ability along with several others. But they weren't here, they were busy back in his world, stalling. Stalling the black planet that threatened to blot out his world, the black planet he was apparently on.

That was it then, no more options, no more ideas. He just hoped this crazy idea of his worked, but sometimes crazy had to work.

_Unknown Recovered Ancient Document_

_Found: Throraz Jungles, Ancient Ruins_

_Found By: Unknown, Anonymous Sender_

_Translated Version_

A threat recently made itself known to the world. A threat that not only had a thirst to destroy our world and everything in it, but it also was known to do other things. Things of which I have seen with my own eyes. I do not know what this darkness is going to do next but I know that it is preparing itself. An army maybe? We recently have had some citizens suddenly go missing from the city also. This worries me. Where are they?

I know that I'm not the only one looking into these past events, search parties have came by here to give the news that they either didn't find whom they were looking for, or they said that it was too late and that someone they were looking for were found dead. Of course, we had them properly buried into their final resting place but the strange things about them was that they were just dead. How they died is beyond me, they showed no signs of injury.

I also noticed something has recently appeared in the sky at night. It doesn't twinkle so it's no star. I'm guessing it's a planet. But planets don't just appear, or do they? What force of work is beyond our skies?

The (untranslatable word 'svner') seem to know something about, so why not tell? Maybe they just don't to worry someone, or maybe it's nothing to worry about at all. (Untranslatable word, 'unab') of the (untranslatable word 'svner') recently had a kid, maybe I'll go visit and see how they are doing and ask about this planet in the sky. That's even if it's a planet.

_Unknown Recovered Ancient Document_

_Found: Throraz Jungles, Ancient Ruins_

_Found By: Unknown, Anonymous Sender_

_Translated Version_

Turns out this kid is something else. The (untranslatable word 'svner') had him over earlier and I could have (untranslatable word 'wrimre') he was a purple dragon. Guess my eyes are playing tricks on me. No matter, he was a good kid. He never cried while he was with me, does he ever cry? It was like I was by myself the whole time, he was quiet the whole time. I talked to the (untranslatable word 'svner') afterwards and (untranslatable word 'unab') of them told me that he was born like that. Didn't really make sense but I just went with it.

Anyhow, the kid is already a year old. Felt like just (untranslatable word 'rmelhan') the (untranslatable word 'svner') told me about him. Anyways, onto bigger things, or problems.

The planet is getting (untranslatable word 'ltelinalble') and it worries me. When will it stop? Oh well, don't think it needs my attention at the moment. It hasn't even gotten that big over the past year. (ltelinalble may mean bigger but not sure)

_Unknown Recovered Ancient Document_

_Found: Throraz Jungles, Ancient Ruins_

_Found By: Unknown, Anonymous Sender_

_Translated Version_

It's all hopeless. Our city has been overrun by these, dark dragons and they are (untranslatable word 'melkanikin') everyone. I only hope the (untranslatable word 'svner') can hold out and keep that planet from crashing into ours. Their kid went somewhere, don't know where, but we need his help. This element is infecting everyone and turning them against us. The (untranslatable word 'svner') call the element (untranslatable word, 'velnemek'). It certainly is a dark force.

The planet, it's just staring at ours, ready to devour it. I just hope the (untranslatable word 'svner') can hold out. I should go help them instead of writing this, but writing calms me down. That's what I'll do, I'm going to help even if it kills me.

_Unknown Recovered Ancient Document_

_Found: Throraz Jungles, Ancient Ruins_

_Found By: Unknown, Anonymous Sender_

_Translated Version_

We did it! The darkness has fled and we have won! Although we lost a large population of citizens and I broke my leg while fighting against three of dark dragons. But where is that kid at? I haven't seen him lately and I'm worried about him. I'll check with the (untranslatable word 'svner') later and see where he is.

The (untranslatable word 'svner') told me that the kid went to the Parched Desert. Suicide if you ask me, what did he hope to find there?

The planet above ours was destroyed. As we battled against the dark dragons, the planet imploded from the inside out. Afterwards, all the dark dragons changed colors. Turns out all those dark dragons were the missing citizens of the city, we only recovered a fraction of them.

I thought it would be over and this planet would never be threatened by them again. But the (untranslatable word 'svner') told me that they were going to be coming back. They told me of how to stop them and so I wrote down step by step directions on what to look out for for the future.

(Untranslatable word, fulns), you should look out for missing citizens. If a lot of citizens suddenly begin to go missing then you should (Untranslatable).

(The rest of the document was illegible and impossible to read. Also, I may think some of the untranslatable words may be numbers for I looked back and didn't see any numbers. Like fulns may be first. Anyways, I sent this as anonymous because I illegally obtained these documents by exploring the Throraz Forest. I know it's against laws to do so because it's an ancient burial ground, but look what I found in the process.)

_Meanwhile_

Torch wasn't feeling like himself lately. He caught the average cold and felt like he was drained of energy. His throat was a little scratchy and his head felt like it was stuffed just as much as his nose was.

He was laying on the couch in front of the unlit fireplace. He wore a black, fuzzy cover over him as his head laid on the arm of the couch and his feet was propped up on the arm at the other end of the couch. His head was laid back and his eyes were closed, praying that his sickness would leave him soon. He wanted to take Micha out to dinner tonight and from the looks of things he couldn't due to his own stupidity.

He soon fell asleep from boredom and was in his dreams.

He dreamed he was on top of the tallest building in Warfang, just looking out over the city. Suddenly he heard a cry for help. Looking where the source came from, he heard the cry again. He spotted where it was and leaped down after it. Free falling for a few short seconds, he saw a black dragon on the ground. Torch spread his wings as he approached the ground to slow down his fall so he could safely land.

Torch landed in a small alley and looked behind him to see the black dragon on her feet. He walked up to the dragon and asked, "Are you alright?"

The black dragon said nothing. She only turned her head and began walking the other way, ignoring the help she was offered. Torch watched her as she turned a corner, then he went after her. As he turned the corner, she was gone.

Then Torch woke up from the dream. He rubbed his head wondering on why the random dreams always happened to him. But that black dragon looked kind of familiar. She kind of reminded him of Micha. It was just the facial features that he saw so he didn't really have enough evidence to prove anything. And on top of that, his dreams were sometimes random.

Torch tried going back to sleep but just couldn't get comfortable enough. After a few minutes, he stood to his feet and headed for the kitchen. He stumbled a step, recovered, and took the left into the kitchen. When his paws hit the cold hardwood flooring, he woke up a little bit more than before. He made his way to the fridge, opened it, and grabbed a carton of orange juice. He opened an overhead cupboard and grabbed a small glass and poured the orange juice until the glass was half full. He put the carton back in the fridge and tried to enjoy the juice as he looked out the large window behind the table. His scratchy throat was messing with the taste. He still drunk all of it and washed his glass out and put it beside the sink to dry. Then the kitchen door opened and Micha emerged.

Torch poorly smiled at her as he saw her. "Hey." His voice sounded different and it was low.

"Hey," Micha replied. Her happy tone only lasted that short second. She tilted her head the slightest bit, "Still not feeling good I see."

Torch shook his head as he headed back for the living room. "I feel a little better now that you're here."

Micha followed him in the living room and sat down on the couch with him. "Need anything?"

Torch tried to stay away from her as they sat on the couch. "I need you to stay away for now. I don't want you to catch this cold."

"You worry too much," Micha smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.

Torch looked down at her with his eyes. "Hey, I'm being serious." He sounded a bit more livelier than before.

Micha ignored him and just enjoyed the moment.

_Meanwhile_

The library. Shivertail thought he would never see it. He heard of it, but never seen it. This was where every record was being held. So much knowledge was stored in just this one room, it amazed Shivertail as he began looking through the shelves.

The room he was in was full of bookcases and one tall window sat on the far side of the room. The room was also pretty tall and the ceiling was fairly high. There were a few tables with chairs under them here and there with open books along with closed ones on them.

"May I help you?"

Shivertail turned and saw him. The Chronicler, the one in charge of a lot of important matters and quite possibly the one who could tell him answers.

Shivertail knew the question was rhetorical, the Chronicler just asked him that to get his attention. So he went with it, "Yes, my name is Shivertail and I come from the city of Warfang. I need your assistance in an urgent matter."

The Chronicler smiled. A smile that looked all too familiar with Shivertail. "I know why you came here." The Chronicler walked over to a certain bookcase in the corner, looked through some books, and retrieved a black book from a lower shelf. He brought it up for Shivertail to see. Shivertail only watched as he flipped through various pages and stopped on a certain one. "You came for knowledge about him." The Chronicler showed Shivertail some passages from the book, telling them a story about a brave young dragon who basically saved the world from a dark force. The dragon wasn't ordinary, he was born through the six spirit guardians and it was his destiny to save the planet. The Chronicler continued, "This story is true. All of this happened a long time ago. Before the first purple dragon was even born. This is the story of a dragon who could freely change his colors. He used this to his advantage and managed to sneak by hundreds of foes at once."

Shivertail took the book and began to read a little bit of it. "Wait, this dragon can change his colors? Then you should know about the dragon my associate has been taking care of. We call him Star and he changed colors just the other night."

"I know," the Chronicler replied. "He has returned. It pains me to say it, but there is a dark force coming to claim this world and he has come to save it."

Shivertail set the book on the nearest table beside him and left it open just in case he wanted to continue with it. "Save it? So do you have any idea when this dark force is going to appear unto us?"

The Chronicler's head drooped for a moment before making eye contact with Shivertail again, "That is one question I can not answer. I do not know when this darkness will come, but I do know that it will be years before it makes it's appearance." The Chronicler looked at the same table Shivertail put the book down on and retrieved a small wooden box that laid on the corner of it. "This morning, someone sent me these ancient documents. From what I've been able to make out, it's a journal of the city leader, or few passages of it at least. You should take a look at them when you get the chance." The Chronicler handed the box over to Shivertail. Shivertail accepted. "I have a question for you Shivertail."

"A question?" Shivertail sounded surprised as he examined the box he was given. It was ragged and could give splinters if not careful.

"I would like to see Star for myself. It would be a great honor to meet such an extraordinary dragon such as him. May I come to your city and see him?"

Shivertail looked up at the Chronicler unexpectedly, "Of course Chronicler."

The Chronicler smiled in response, "There's two other dragons I would like to see, but I won't waste your time with it."

"You mean Spyro and Cynder, right Ignitus?"

The white dragon looked Shivertail right in the eyes with the same smile, "You read my mind."

_Kali's Home_

Cosmo was a bit shocked at the moment. Shocked to the point where he didn't even remember standing up off the bed. He looked up at the picture of the two dragons on the wall beside the door. The silver dragon, it was Kaida after all.

"So let me get this straight, you are Kaida's sister?" Cosmo sounded dumbstruck. Why didn't he see it before?

Kali slightly nodded her head while looking down at the blanket that covered her waist. "I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner. I should have told you everything."

"Kaida never mentioned that she had a sister." Cosmo was silent as he made his way to the other side of the bed where he made room to sit down beside Kali. "I'm not mad, just surprised."

Kali looked back up at Cosmo, "R- Really? I thought you would be mad."

Cosmo shook his head side to side then quickly replied, "No, I couldn't get mad at you for being Kaida's sister." Cosmo heard the clock tick four seconds until he continued. "So that means that Balkner was Kaida's brother."

"Right, when I heard of Kaida's death, I cried. I couldn't imagine losing my sister until it actually happened. She was always there with me to help me out through thick and thin. She gave me advice while my brother protected me. I went to Kaida's funeral to pay my respects, but then I saw you. So I hid. I didn't want you to become frightened that I was there. Then Phantom appeared to me and threatened to kill my brother if I didn't capture you."

"I can make out the rest," Cosmo interrupted, not wanting her to think back to those horrible times. "Don't worry, you've got me. I'll be here to protect you when you need it and if you need someone to talk to, you can talk to me." Then Cosmo had a brain spark. "Or you could talk to Kaida."

"Talk to Kaida? How?" She sounded more energetic now.

"The music box," Cosmo grinned. "When you play it, you can talk to Kaida. I've been doing it a lot and I'm more than happy to share."

Kali looked deep in thought then. She was actually nervous on talking to Kaida. What would she say about what she tried to do to Cosmo? What would she say about her imprisoning him? No, she couldn't think those things. That was the past, it's over and done with. She was a different dragon now, a changed being.

Kali smiled in determination, "Alright, lets go."


	33. The Easy Way?

Coming soon, a Spyro classic oneshot based on halloween. Main genre is horror and Flame plays as Spyro's little brother. It's already nearly done, just adding a few finishing touches. Enjoy the long chapter.

Chapter 33

The Easy Way?

_Time: 5:03 P.M._

_Date: Unknown_

Panic. That's what he felt like doing right now. There were so many of the dark beings around him that if he made the slightest error, he was as good as gone. And he was in the midst of them trying to enter the tower.

The dark beings were quiet as he walked by, almost like they couldn't speak. The hero passed by one of them and it looked like a dark being was twitching as if something was trying to take over him. Most likely the dragon on the inside was trying to fight back. The only way to free these dragons now was in the tower. The crystal must be destroyed and this planet must fall.

The entrance to the tower was only a few yards away. He could see the inside of it and he could hear his speedy heartbeats. He was almost there, almost to his goal. Once he was inside, things wouldn't be as bad.

Then the hero made a grave mistake. He bumped into another dark being making the hero the center of attention. This was bad. The hero looked around him and nearly every dark being was looking at him with a death stare.

Seeing his chance, he bolted for the open doorway. He sprinted as fast as his body would let him with the dark beings giving chase. The hero slowed down after he entered the tower and slammed the door shut behind him and locked it from the inside. Beating on wood was the only thing the hero could hear. It wouldn't be long until that door wouldn't be able to hold them off. Time was slim.

The black dragon turned around and saw old concrete steps that circled around the tower walls and all the way to the top where a light was being emitted. Other than the steps, the inside of the tower looked pretty plain, other than the barred up windows he saw from the outside. So he headed on up, ready for whatever was waiting for him.

_Kali's Home_

_Nearly 1 P.M._

Cosmo and Kali sat on the couch, side by side with Kali holding the music box in her outstretched paws. Isis was sleeping on a cat-like bed near the fireplace that Kali scrounged up from nowhere in particular.

"So whoever plays this can talk to Kaida?" Kali asked to be sure that this would actually work.

"Yes, I think only certain dragons can talk to Kaida. Family members and me I guess." Cosmo shrugged then sagged his shoulders with anticipation. "Go ahead. Try it."

Kali looked beside her, "Will you be able to talk to her too?"

Cosmo answered a few seconds later after thinking about it, "I don't think so. She told me when I first used it that the one who plays it will be able to talk to her."

Kali looked back at the music box and began turning the handle to play it. "Alrighty then."

Both of them listened to the melody the music box made. The uplifting melody that had the power to cheer up a depressed dragon. The melody made Kali smile as it brought back some faithful memories of her family. Her brother, Balkner, would always look after his two younger sisters whether they knew it or not. It was always a great feeling to know that you were protected, to know that whatever life threw at you there would be someone to talk to.

Then the melody slowed to a stop. Kali looked down at the carpet then felt another conscious enter into her head. A warm, familiar conscious. It felt kind of strange but it also made her feel good.

"Kaida?" Kali quietly said.

"Kali," Kali heard. She looked over at Cosmo and he was laid back on the couch after a job well done. "Kali, it's good to hear the voice of my sister again."

"Kaida . . . it's great to hear yours." She went quiet for a moment then continued. "I'm sorry about Balkner. I tried to save him but-"

"Hey," Kaida interrupted. "It's not your fault that happened to him so don't you even think about beating yourself up for it." A few seconds expired before she continued. "If I could hug you, I would. I miss you too."

"Kaida . . ." A tear appeared in Kali's eye. "I don't know what I'm going to do without my family. I wish I could go back and change things so they would be different. I would save you, our brother, and I wouldn't have attacked Cosmo."

"Don't worry about it Kali, it's all going be alright. Cosmo is still with you and he's a great guy. And you have the music box and you can talk to me whenever you like. You are one lucky dragoness Kali."

"How?" Kali wiped a tear that began rolling down her cheek. Cosmo acted like he didn't notice and looked the other way.

"Look beside you." Kali did what she was told and only saw Cosmo. He was looking at Isis at the moment. "Me and Cosmo met in the forest but we quickly became friends. He is the best friend I could ever hope to ask for. He forgave you when you apologized for what you did to him. Others would have held onto to it but he let it go. He's different from any other dragon you may see. He can use four elements, he has abilities, and he fights for what is right. He is one of the greatest things that will ever happen to you."

Kali smiled and looked down at Isis, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks."

"And Cosmo isn't too fond of mating season so if you can, don't break him."

"Well that's one way of putting it," Kali replied. "Thanks for the talk."

"Anytime Kali."

Then the presence in her mind vanished. Kali looked at the music box she held and closed it. The sudden click noise brought Cosmo out of his daydreaming and made him look over to see what caused it. Kali offered the music box back to Cosmo and he accepted, only to place it on the small table beside the couch he was sitting on.

Kali stood to her feet and walked to the ceiling fan, pulled a string that dangled from it, and the fan was brought to life. The dusty wooden blades began spinning and blew out a cool air which could be easily felt if someone stood under it.

"Thanks Cosmo." Kali looked over the back of the couch where Cosmo was turned around and looking back at her. "It makes me feel better to know my sister is only a melody away."

"Whenever you want to have a chat with her the music box is on the table there," Cosmo pointed without looking.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Cosmo looked behind him, unsure of what to do. He was punished last time he answered a knock and Kali took notice of his hesitation. She stood to her feet and turned to walk to the door with Cosmo silently thanking her.

Kali took a moment to inhale then reached for the silver unpolished doorhandle. She slowly turned it until the door moved and a small crack was showing. Kali looked through the crack, smiled, then opened the door the rest of the way.

Cosmo looked and saw a brown scaled dragon at the door. He felt like he seen him before.

The brown dragon was equipped with a bag strapped around his back. The brown dragon dug threw it without even taking eye contact off Kali, retrieved a sheet of plain white paper, and handed it over.

Kali wordlessly took a look at it while the brown dragon said in his young voice, "Sure am glad I'm delivering these again. Hope you can make it."

Kali looked back up with an expression of gratitude, "You can count on it. Something like this I'm not gonna miss."

The brown was about to say something until something caught his eye. Or someone. He looked down beside Kali to see a black cat looking up at him. And the cat seemed to be . . . smiling . . . at him. He also noticed the two tails she possessed.

"Interesting," the brown scaled reptile leaned down to take a closer look. "A cat. Haven't seen one of these other than in books. He seems to have two tails too. Unusual."

"She," Kali added before Isis would surprise him even more by telling him otherwise.

"Oh, sorry about that," he gestured toward the cat.

Isis smile dispersed and turned into a frown. She looked up at Isis for a quick second, turned, and made her way to Cosmo's side on the couch.

"Have a good day," the brown dragon slightly bowed and went back to his business of handing out fliers

Kali closed the door and handed the flier to Cosmo. He silently read it, assuming the blue dragoness standing in front of him already did that.

**The festival is arriving into the city square soon! **

** Grab a friend and make your way to the city square! There will be singing, dancing, food, games, fellowship, all under the night sky! **

** If you do not know the way to Warfang's Grand Fountain City Square then contact a gatekeeper for a map of Warfang or any of the gatekeepers will gladly tell you where it is.**

** The festival will be held in three days (this Saturday) and it will begin at 7:00 P.M. **

** Warfang's repairs is nearly complete so keep your heads held high!**

**News**

** Everyone has been working so hard on Warfang but a mere few building's remain. I'm more than happy to say that the festival is going to be a blast for everyone. The toddlers will have games to play so they are welcome to come along. **

** I also noticed on how some of you are wondering where the moles are. Two weeks ago we noticed that all of them were missing. It was strange but we have reason to believe that they have moved on to another place or land to begin their very own settlement. They originally built Warfang for the dragon's, or so I've been told, and now they are building one for themselves. However, this is not confirmed yet. **

Cosmo set the paper on the table small table beside him and placed his music box on top of it to hold it down in place. Well, his and Kali's music box.

"Hope something won't come up to ruin this one," Kali muttered, taking a spot on the couch beside Cosmo. Isis scooted over a little to make room for her.

"Yeah, same here." Cosmo sat back and slumped into the couch. It looked a little uncomfortable from Kali's point of view. Cosmo looked in between him and Kali and stroked Isis's back. She didn't seem to mind.

"It would be a disaster if something else happened and the festival was canceled again." Kali added, situating herself on the couch to a more comfortable position.

"You're right there," Cosmo replied in a firmer voice. He looked over at the flier to his right and looked at Kali. "So moles built this city?"

Kali looked at Cosmo with a strange but understandable look. "Err . . . yeah. You didn't know that? Where have you been?"

Cosmo looked back at the dead fireplace in front of him. He didn't reply to that question, he let his silence do the answering.

_Tathric Range_

_A Few Hours Later_

"I still can't believe Aruto said yes to this," Isaac complained.

He wore a light winter coat made of dark fur and he wore a small fur hat to go with it. He was equipped with his shortsword on his back and two knives on his side. He also wore a type of small brown bag that he wore on his back. It was made of tough material and it held supplies such as food, pickaxes, a compass, and the map that Aruto gave him. Frederick however had a little more weight for he carried a small folded tent in his. Isaac wore a gray tunic under his fur coat and he wore leather greaves. Light armor for the legs. He wore the same deerskin boots he always wore and his pale blue eyes were looking upwards towards the mountain cliff in front of him.

Frederick looked at Isaac with a careful eye. Frederick wore a light fur coat himself and his silver claymore was equipped on his back. He didn't equip his bow for this trip for Rita had one. Frederick wore a white tunic underneath and he had on leather greaves as well. After all, it was recommended to wear light armor or no armor and Frederick felt vulnerable without armor. His black hair moved freely with the cold mountain breeze and he wore doeskin boots himself. He also had a bag just like Isaac's which contained the same supplies.

Rita looked up at the mountain with a smile. She was equipped with her medium sized black bow which hung on her back as well as a quiver full of steel arrows. Because of the quiver of bow being larger than a sword, she didn't have a bag. Her supplies were divided between Isaac's and Frederick's. Her black hair wasn't covered and she wore a thicker black fur coat than the other two. She wore a blue tunic underneath and she wore black leather greaves along with doeskinned boots. But her boots had some gray fur at the part where it stuck to her leg. Her green eyes just seemed to adore the challenge she was about to take.

Isaac continued his rant, "I never even heard of a Parched Desert. If it's not on the map then there's no way we are going to find it. The only desert on the map is the Oasis of Riches and I'm pretty sure that's not it."

"We'll find it Isaac," Frederick assured as he looked up at the cliff wall mostly made of ice excluding a few spots here and there. It was the position he was in that made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

All three of them stood on a edge that was only two feet wide. Rita looked down into the chasm underneath them and saw a sudden drop. A good half of a kilometer to the bottom.

The three of them traveled along a path from the dojo and it gradually narrowed itself. They soon found themselves above the treetops and at the cliffs edge. But the path ended and the only place to go now was up. The Tathric Range was indeed huge and walking around the mountains would take them days. It would only take them a few hours to climb over it and get to the other side so Aruto gave them all pickaxes to climb it. Aruto even took the time to sharpen them up and made them into small scythes with a barb near the point to help it stick into the ice. Aruto then called them, iceaxes, and handed them over.

The three of them already tried them out on an ice wall behind the dojo just to be safe and they actually worked. But that was only a few yards upwards. Frederick looked up at the ice wall and guessed a good one hundred yards until the top.

"Hope neither of you are afraid of heights," Rita crossed her arms. Her voice sounded younger than Isaac's and had a hint of eagerness in it.

"Pft," went Isaac. "The heights doesn't scare me, it's the falling part that does."

"Point taken," Frederick added in. He looked out onto the land but squinted for the sun was glaring down on them. "If we are going to climb this then we might better pick up the pace."

"Why?" Isaac simply asked, pulling off his bag to retrieve his iceaxes.

Rita answered, "Because the sun is shining on the ice wall and ice melts." She turned to Frederick who was a head higher in height. "Right?"

"You're kidding? As if climbing a wall that is hundreds of feet tall is hard enough," Isaac began but trailed off as he pulled out three iceaxes. He handed one over to Rita.

Frederick pulled his bag off his back and also picked out three iceaxes. He handed one to Rita to make her set complete. Frederick strapped the bag back onto his back tightly and looked at the ice wall behind him.

"Let's go and get this over with," Frederick replied. He turned to the ice wall and swung his right axe at the ice. A few cracks formed around the axe but it held nicely, for now at least. Frederick swung his left axe higher than the right and stabbed the ice. Frederick pulled himself up and began climbing.

"Seems to be safe," Rita smiled impishly as she began to follow Frederick's example, who was already a few feet high.

"What's so safe about this?" Isaac uselessly asked. He attached his bag to his back and held his to iceaxes with a firm and tight grip. He began climbing the ice as well, avoiding any spots in the ice that was already picked at.

The three of them began climbing up the ice wall with ease. Isaac couldn't believe he was actually doing something like this. Something so death defying, one wrong mistake would make him end up falling to his doom into the abyss below. He shivered when he thought of that but kept on going, keeping up with Rita and Frederick. Around twenty yards up, Isaac felt like taking his coat off and letting the cold wind refresh him. Rita still kept going on at the same pace as before and Frederick shouted out some spots in the ice that seemed weak and ordered everyone to steer clear. Isaac shook his head at his situation and kept going.

Fifty yards up. Frederick began feeling the fatigue setting in. He wanted to stop but knew if he did, he would only make things worse in two ways. One, it would tire him out even more by hanging there and two, the ice would weaken due to the sun shining on it and the ice would break and he would fall. So he kept his pace, using his feet when he could. Rita and Isaac saw what he would occasionally do and found themselves doing it to keep going. They must have been climbing the wall for fifteen minutes now but none of them cared for that right now.

Seventy yards high and the dangers only increased. Rita's iceaxe slipped and she nearly dropped it. Dropping something as crucial as an iceaxe at the moment would be very bad indeed. Luckily, Isaac was right below her to support her. All of them were breathing heavily due to fatigue.

Ten more yards up and the ice began to give away. Frederick went to stab the ice with his right iceaxe and the ice broke. Frederick's heart rate increased three times the normal rate as he slid down the ice wall holding on for dear life onto that his left iceaxe. Rita heard the bad news and looked up only to see Frederick slipping downwards. Before Rita could act, Frederick did it himself. He swung his right iceaxe at the ice as hard as he could and stabbed it into the ice, stopping his slow descent. Now he was hanging beside Rita who only kept on going. She knew he was alright by looking at his face. She seen it hundreds of times before. Isaac found himself panting went the event above him happened. Glad it was over and continued onwards and upwards.

Twenty yards remained and the three of them were almost worn out. There was no hiding that from each other as they were all panting loudly with each swing of their axe. Isaac saw something else on the ice that made him worry. A reflective surface beginning to form on the ice. Cold water. The ice was beginning to melt as the temperature was beginning to increase. Or maybe it was just him sweating?

The noise of ice breaking made Isaac look up. But it wasn't up, it was right in front of him. Isaac felt the air exit his lungs as the ice he stabbed didn't support his weight. Rita looked down between her legs and only saw Isaac fall.

"Isaac!"

The sudden outburst made Frederick look downwards. Isaac fell a few few feet before managing to cling on to some good ice with his left iceaxe. Isaac dangled for a moment, not knowing whether his heart just stopped or not.

"The ice is beginning to break!" Isaac yelled, as he began to climb again. He made sure he was away from the ice that gave out on him on his way back up.

Frederick didn't respond but continued. None of them were going as fast as they were when they began. It was nearly impossible to even speed up now. But it was only a few more yards up. Just a few more then they could rest.

Isaac heard the sound of ice breaking again. He squeezed his iceaxes but realized that it wasn't him. He looked up and closed his eyes as ice fell down below him. Rita seemed to be having some troubles as well but she quickly recovered while leaving a hole in the ice. Isaac stayed clear.

Left axe, right axe. Isaac's thoughts were filled with this.

Left axe, right axe. He looked up, and still saw Frederick and Rita climbing. How much further was it? He was so tired at the moment that he felt like his grip was coming loose.

Left axe, right axe. Snow began to fall from above. Isaac looked up to see Frederick struggling with something. But he returned his sight on the ice around him.

Left axe, right axe. Isaac heavily panted and his chest was rising and falling rapidly. He found himself gasping for air for one second then he continued. His muscles ached and his hands must have had ten blisters from this.

Isaac was about to give in. He just couldn't keep on going like this. Until he felt something tap him on the the top of his fur cap. Isaac looked up to see an open hand, he looked up and saw that he was at the top. He showed a fatigued smile and threw his right iceaxe up on the cliff and grabbed Frederick's hand. Frederick pulled him up with the remainder of the strength he had in him and the three of them found themselves laying down in the snow, staring upwards into the cloudy sky. The clouds certainly seemed a lot closer since they began the ascent.

"Never again," Isaac panted. "That . . . was the most . . . toughest thing . . . I've ever . . . done." Isaac found himself out of breath by this simple sentence.

"Thought I was done for when the ice broke on me," Rita managed. She didn't sound as fatigued as Isaac.

"Luckily the ice held," Frederick struggled to say the words.

"Let's take a nap," Isaac replied, still breathing heavily. "I can see my heart beating through my chest for crying out loud." Isaac looked beside him to see his bag. He didn't even remember setting it down before falling into the snow.

"Can't," Frederick replied, all three of them still laying in the snow. "We have to make our way back down the mountain."

"Why is that?" Isaac asked feeling a little more rested as the snow under him helped cool him back down.

Rita interrupted with the answer, "Our tent needs sticks Isaac. I don't see any sticks up here. We need sticks to set it up."

Isaac was in silence for a few seconds, other than his breathing, then asked, "Can we sit here for a bit longer then?"

Frederick looked around himself as he sat up, "I was planning on that."

The three of them sat on top of a flat topped mountain. It wasn't as high as all the others, in fact this one seemed the lowest one of them all. There really wasn't much to see other than snow. Wasn't even any trees up where they were. The top of the mountain wasn't all that large either. It was only a few square yards from what it looked like. Frederick stood to his feet and made the short trip to the other side of the cliff. He looked down to see a fifty to sixty degree slope with snow decorating it all the way to the bottom. Then it seemed like a straight shot into the forest.

Frederick turned around to see Rita and Isaac also looking down the mountain. Frederick turned back around to his original view. The slope looked smooth except for the occasional rock sticking out here and there. The slope also seemed to change angles along the way down. It looked about one and half kilometers down, maybe a little less.

"That's a long way down," Isaac explained the obvious while his breathing could still be heard. "Why am I still having a hard time breathing?"

Rita happily answered without taking her eyes off the slope. "Because we're on top of a mountain and the air is thinner up here."

Isaac lifted his arms up high and stretched them, "And how do you suppose we get down from here? I'm not going down that ice again so you can forget that."

"Nope," Frederick began. He yawned and continued. "This one might be funner, don't you think Rita?" He looked over at her with a small, devious grin.

She looked back at him with a smile, "I believe so. That's if I'm thinking the same thing you are."

"Which is?" Isaac asked with a hand scratching the back of his head.

"What do you think about sliding down?" Frederick asked and looked back down the slope.

Isaac walked over toward the ledge and peeked over it. It was about a three foot drop then a slope began. "Sliding down? All the way down?"

Frederick nodded and looked at Rita, "Were you thinking the same thing?"

"Yep," Rita sneered. She looked up at Isaac, "Well?"

Isaac looked down the slope, "Are you barking mad?"

"It's the only way down, unless you want to go down the ice," Frederick reminded him.

Isaac paced around in the snow for a few seconds then looked back down the slope. It was indeed, a long ride. Heck it may even be fun. Isaac tried to picture himself sliding down that slope, dodging all the rocks to avoid a disaster from happening. But Frederick was right, it was the safest and the best way down off the mountain. They had to climb the lowest mountain just to get to the other side of the Tathric range. It was crazy, but this was only the beginning.

"Okay," Isaac finally agreed. "Let's do it."

Frederick smiled, "Just avoid all the rocks and stay behind me the best you can." Frederick turned toward the mountain and looked down it. He made sure his bag was still strapped tightly so he wouldn't lose it then asked, "Everyone ready?"

"Wait, we forgot our things," Rita indicated. "And by things I mean the iceaxes and Isaac doesn't have his bag."

Frederick looked back and mildly chuckled, "Ah, almost forgot. Well, get a move on now. I'm eager to start without you."

"Yeah, yeah," Isaac mumbled as he went back to his bag that still layed in the snow. He put three iceaxes into his bag before strapping it tightly on his back. He picked up two iceaxes with his right hand and the remainder in his left and made his way back to Frederick where his bag layed in the snow. Isaac handed the iceaxes over and he stuffed them in the bag the best he could and strapped it closed and tied it tightly to his back.

"Okay, now is everyone ready?" Frederick asked again, knowing good and well there was nothing to stop them this time.

When no one answered, Frederick continued, "Alright, let's get going then."

Frederick jumped down on the slope and he started sliding on his behind. Isaac and Rita quickly followed, Isaac with slight hesitation but jumped anyways. Both of them followed Frederick's suit, using their arms to help them balance themselves and help turn on the massive snow slicked slide. Frederick turned left the best he could to avoid an oncoming rock that jutted out of the slide. Rita and Isaac closely followed. Some snow would be kicked up when Frederick's longsword would drag in the snow. But it only happened when the incline of the slope decreased. All of them looked like they were having a grand old time.

_Meanwhile_

Getting by the citizen wasn't easy, but the Chronicler managed to do it and get inside of Shivertail's quarters. Both of them were walking down the hall as Ignitus would often get stared at by a guard or someone else who worked in that part of the building. Ignitus followed Shivertail past his office and he headed straight ahead and turned right into a room. The room where Star and Felenia was.

He managed to get one thing done so far during his absence. He asked Felenia before he left to send out fliers to all the residents about the upcoming festival, where it would be held and when it would begin. Everything else depends entirely on the residents of Warfang.

Shivertail and Ignitus walked straight to the crib to see a gray dragon peacefully sleeping inside.

"Seems he hasn't changed colors yet," Shivertail whispered.

Ignitus looked down at Star with a grin. This was the dragon that he only heard of. Even he could have only dreamed of the honor of seeing such a wonderful creature such as Star. He only read one book about a dragon that could freely change his colors. This was especially useful for camouflaging himself with his surroundings. Very useful when someone wants to slip through some place without being caught. Another things that this dragon could do was learn all the elements. The main reason why the purple dragon can not defeat the evil that Star may face is because of the evil knew all the elements as well. Combining elements would also be needed as well as knowing the weaknesses and strong-points of them.

There was also the ones only known as the six. These dragons were the ones who taught Star about the elements and trained him. The six was also known to have abilities that no other dragon could have. It was quite an interesting read.

After a minute, Ignitus finally broke the silence with a whisper, "Is there any way you can send someone to get Spyro and Cynder to come here? I would like to see them?"

Shivertail showed a smile and whispered back, "Of course Chronicler."

Still whispering he replied, "Please, call me Ignitus."

_Tathric Range_

Isaac steered to the best of his abilities to clear an oncoming rock. Things were getting a bit bumpy making things a bit more interesting. More interesting to Rita at least, she was the one who always looked for a challenge no matter if it were physical or mental.

The rock swooshed by but they were only halfway down the slope. Frederick couldn't tell if he was sliding on ice covered by snow or rock. But the big bumps packed a punch if they weren't taken seriously. Frederick dodged a few rocks jutting out the slope and squinted to see ahead. The cold air was getting to his eyes and he had to wipe a tear off his face. But he made out the obstacle ahead. It made him swallow a lump in this throat. He didn't see this from the top of the mountain but it was too late to turn back. A fourth of a kilometer ahead, was a gap in the slope. Frederick couldn't tell how deep it was but it was coming.

"Rita! Isaac!" Frederick yelled out behind him. "There's a gap in the slope up ahead!"

"How big?" Isaac yelled back.

"Can't tell!" Frederick replied. Isaac flinched when he heard it.

"Then we will need to speed up," Rita suggested. "Everyone lean forward!"

Isaac saw the gap Frederick was looking at. There was no way to avoid it. The only thing they could do is have faith in their luck.

The gap was coming and it slowly became easier to see how big it actually was. It looked kind of long. Ten yards? Maybe a little less. This was going to be a rough ride.

Here it was. The gap was near and all three of them were going at top speed. Frederick positioned his feet, ready to jump, and suggested to the other two that they would do the same.

The gap came and Frederick leaped, windmilling his arms through the air out of instinct. He managed to get a glance at the gap below him. A deadly crevice more like it. It was deep enough to break a leg and give whoever was unlucky enough to fall in a hard time of getting back out. Definitely something a person wanted to avoid.

Frederick didn't realize he was holding his breath. Everything was quiet during his flight, no one yelled, no one screamed, good news hopefully.

He looked down to see the slope coming back toward his feet then prepared for a hard landing. Frederick landed safely on the other side of the slope but suffered from making a slight error. He tried to land on his feet. Bad idea. Frederick fell head over heels and found himself a quick second later, rolling and tumbling on the slope. Whatever breath he had in his lungs was knocked out of him. But Frederick managed to control his wild tumbling by using his legs for support. He was looking in the right direction again. But was Isaac and Rita alright? He turned around and saw them giving him worried looks.

"You alright?" Rita asked. Frederick barely heard her over the chilly wind.

"I'll live," Frederick replied in a loud but necessary tone. His side was aching him at the moment though.

"That was crazy!" Isaac exclaimed.

No one responded to that true statement.

The end of the slope was near. There was just another few hundred meters left until they hit the bottom. Then they would have to start walking into the forest ahead. The treetops were covered with snow to begin with then in the distance the trees retained their normal green leaves look.

But where exactly is the Parched Desert? Frederick knew that finding this desert wouldn't be easy but it had to be done. According to the black book Aruto gave him, the Parched Desert was where the hero was before he mysteriously disappeared. He was just going to have to read that part of the book more slowly once the three of them were down the slope.

Finally the end came. The three of them slowed to a stop as the incline gradually decreased. Isaac was the first one to stand. He rubbed his behind and began to walk around awkwardly as Rita and Frederick slowly stood to their feet.

"My butt is freezing," Isaac said, placing his left palm on his forehead and rubbed his sinuses.

"That was quite an enjoyable ride," Rita said, smiling as she did.

Frederick rubbed his side from that fall he took earlier on the slope. It didn't hurt much so he figured he was going to be alright. But this was just the beginning of their short journey.


	34. Seeing Each Other Again

Chapter 34

Seeing Each Other Again

_Time: 5:08 P.M._

_Date: Unknown_

The hero quickly made his way up the stairs, trying to ignore the constant banging on the door. This was it, now or never. He heard noises coming from above him which made him move even faster. He had to get this done quickly before it was too late.

After he climbed several floors up, he made it to the top. He was at the top of the tower and a large dark crystal was standing in the middle, supported by wooden braces. The crystal seemed active for it was generating dark energy. The flooring was made of light colored wood and it creaked with every step he took. Two barred windows were up near the top on opposite sides of each other. The floor was big enough to do laps around though.

The hero walked toward the oversized dark crystal, ready to destroy it, but something else was here. Someone was watching him and his hunch was correct when he saw a figure walk around the crystal to face the dragon. The black dragon looked at his foe. He was a human from the looks of things. He was wearing a dark black coat that seemed to radiate a dark energy. His eyes were red and his smile was devious.

"Ah, so you've finally come," the mysterious figure greeted. His voice sounded deep and harsh.

The hero didn't reply. He didn't see a need to.

"So it's just like that. Nothing to say? Well it doesn't matter anyways. You will soon become one of my servants anyways."

The cloaked figure raised an open palm and a dark magic began forming all around it. The hero took on a more serious stance, ready to begin his final battle.

_Present Day_

Cynder heard a knock on the door. She stood to her feet as she put down a flier she was recently given that said the location of the upcoming festival. She walked to the door and opened to see Felenia. The aged dragon smiled as a greeting.

"Felenia?" Cynder simply said.

"You and Spyro's presence is needed in Shivertail's quarters," Felenia reported.

"Does it have something to do with Star?" Cynder asked, stretching her left wing in the process.

Felenia shook her head, "Someone important is waiting for you two."

Cynder shrugged, "Alright. We'll be there."

Felenia bowed and made her way back down the street from whence she came. Cynder closed the door, turned around and made her way to the couch.

"You heard her," Cynder said, nudging Spyro on the shoulder. He was reading a book at the time but the sudden nudge brought him out of his imagination.

"What?" Spyro went, marking his place with a bookmark made of folded paper.

"We're needed in Shivertail's office. Someone important wants to see us."

Spyro looked at the old clock hanging toward the left of the fireplace. It read 3:30 P.M. He looked back at his book and set it to the side.

_Ten Minutes Later_

Spyro and Cynder walked down the hall and entered Shivertail's office. But he was nowhere to be seen. The two dragons exchanged a few glances, exited the room, and turned a left. They made their way down the hall and turned the second right into Star's room. Two dragons stood in this room. Shivertail, and a white dragon that was slightly larger than Shivertail.

Spyro and Cynder made their way to Shivertail and he seemed to take notice. Shivertail looked at his two guests while the white dragon was looking down in the crib at Star. He was awake now and seemed to be entertained by the white dragon.

"Ah, Spyro and Cynder there you are," Shivertail happily greeted.

"Who wants to see us?" Spyro asked while looking by him at the white dragon.

Shivertail turned to look at the white dragon himself, Cynder did the same. "Straight to the point I see. Well Chronicler, I believe this is where you're going to take over?"

"The Chronicler?" Spyro repeated in disbelief. He stared at the white dragon but the Chronicler looked different somehow.

The Chronicler began, while still entertaining Star, "Spyro . . . Cynder . . . it's been a while."

This voice sounded all too familiar to him. Spyro made his way to the Chronicler closely followed by Cynder. Cynder looked at Spyro with same look Spyro gave her.

Then the Chronicler turned around and revealed himself. The Chronicler Ignitus, smiled as he set his eyes on the two dragons that couldn't believe their eyes. Spyro still stared, unable to speak while Cynder was rubbing her eyes thinking her vision was playing tricks on her.

After six long seconds, Spyro finally managed to say through his shock, "Ig- . . . Ignitus? Is that you?"

Cynder looked up at the white dragon and couldn't believe it. It was Ignitus, the one whom both of them thought dead.

Ignitus slightly nodded, "Yes Spyro, it is me. Ignitus."

A hundred questions rolled through his mind at that moment. But he couldn't ask a single one. Instead, he acted. Ignitus watched the purple dragon attempt to give him the best hug he could despite of him being taller. Ignitus returned the favor but not before Cynder was right with Spyro. He embraced both of them for a long moment, knowing the two of them missed him dearly.

Little Star watched the three of them in his crib, smiling at the sight himself. Shivertail noticed him but left the room anyways. He figured there was a lot the three of them needed to catch up on.

Spyro released his grip on Ignitus and looked up at Ignitus, "I missed you Ignitus."

Ignitus looked down at the dragon and happily replied, "And I missed you too Spyro." Cynder then released her grip and both of them were looking up at him.

"What happened to you?" Cynder quickly asked. "I mean . . . how did you become the Chronicler?"

Ignitus chuckled, "You thought a belt of fire was going to stop me?"

"Well, you are the fire guardian," Spyro replied. "But I thought you died in the battle against the humans. When I asked you 'what happened to you' then, you said the same thing. But you wasn't the Chronicler." Spyro scratched his head with his left claw. "I'm confused."

"Same," Cynder added. "Can you explain how you were in two places at once?"

"I wasn't in two places at once," Ignitus answered. "The one in the battle against the humans wasn't me."

"That wasn't you? It sure looked like you," Spyro recalled the moment. "If that wasn't you then who was it?"

Ignitus shut his eyes for a second to recall the tale then answered in slow words, "When the old Chronicler made me the new Chronicler, the old Chronicler took my place. The one in the battle, the one who died, was the old Chronicler."

Spyro found himself quiet along with Cynder.

Ignitus continued, "It was what he wanted. To defend Warfang the best of his abilities."

"He did battle well," Spyro said in a low depressing tone. He immediately cheered up when he looked up at his father figure. "I'm glad you are safe."

"Same to you young dragon," Ignitus looked down at Cynder to see a frown as if she was left out. "This regards to you too Cynder."

Cynder perked up and Ignitus spotted the same smile she had before. "So did you come all the way here just to see us? Or did you have other matters to attend to?"

Ignitus turned his head to look at Star. Star was laying on his back just watching the three dragons have their heart-lifting reunion. "I also came here to see Star. I wanted to see him with my own eyes instead of a pool of visions." Ignitus looked back at the two heroes in front of him. "I trust you two have been well?"

Spyro and Cynder nodded then Spyro spoke, "I'm doing a lot better now."

Cynder asked afterwards, "How long are you going to stay here with us?"

Spyro wanted to know the same thing. A few short ticks of a nearby clock and Ignitus solemnly answered, "As long as you two want me to."

_The Next Day_

_11:38 A.M._

Cosmo was at it again. Not staying home and taking off without telling anyone. Instead he left a note saying that he would be back in a few hours or so. He left at ten in the morning and Kali was still snoozing the morning away. She was having a bit of trouble sleeping the night before. She just said it was her insomnia kicking in so Cosmo wouldn't get the idea of her having nightmares and such.

The yellow scaled dragon was in the market square. Several concession stands stood around with their owners behind them selling their wares. Some sold food while others sold supplies. Some stands had a line while others seemed to be having a slow day. In the middle of the square was a small fountain. A small stone decorated column rose from the middle which sprayed water in all directions and back into the fountain just so it could be sprayed out again. A few wooden benches took places around fountain on one side while leaving it open on the other. This was so dragons could make their wishes by throwing a gem in the fountain. Cosmo couldn't help but peer into the clear cold water.

At the bottom he could see a few red and green gems and occasionally a blue one. He wondered how much was down there for a moment until something fell into the fountain beside him. Cosmo noticed a green gem making its way down to the bottom before joining all the other ones. Cosmo looked at the one who tossed it in and it was a pink dragon with a darker pink underbelly. Her spine was covered by a light coat of sky blue fur and her brownish horns curved back slightly. Cosmo thought this dragon seemed familiar to him.

The pink dragon had her eyes closed for a few seconds before opening them back up. She went to turn around but stopped midway and looked Cosmo over. Her expression looked as if she was confused but it disappeared before Cosmo could make it out and changed to a look of realization and surprise.

"Cosmo?"

Cosmo immediately realized who it was from the voice. "Micha?"

"Cosmo! It IS you!" She exclaimed as she wrapped up Cosmo with her arms. Cosmo returned the favor with a hug of his own. A dark green dragon passing by eyed the two but didn't slow his pace.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Cosmo said as Micha finished her hug.

"It's been a while," Micha replied with a smile. "How have you been?"

"I have my ups and downs I suppose. You?"

"Same," the pink dragoness slightly nodded. "You going to the festival Saturday?"

"You can bet on it!" Cosmo nearly exclaimed out of excitement. He toned his voice back down then asked, "So when is it again?"

"Seven o'clock," Micha happily answered. "Two days from now. Can't wait for it."

"Me either. So . . .what are you doing here if you don't mind me asking."

"Someone has to get the food right? You doing the same thing?"

Cosmo unnoticeably shook his head side to side, "Just sight-seeing."

Micha frowned, "Sight-seeing in the market? Cosmo, if you really want a to see a sight worth seeing I suggest you go to the Valley of Avalar or Twilight Falls."

"Where are they at?"

Micha seemed aghast at what he said, "You mean you never heard of them before? Where have you been?"

Cosmo shrugged, "I've been in this city for two weeks and a few days straight now."

"That's absurd," Micha responded. "Even I have to go take walks out of the city from time to time." Micha acted as if she was going to go and pace around but continued, "You're not busy at the moment right?"

"No."

"Good, follow me then and I won't take no for an answer."

Micha was about to jump until Cosmo stopped her with words, "Wait, follow you? Where are we going?"

"Candyland . . . Twilight Falls where else? Now come on!"

Cosmo didn't object. Both of them took off into the air, Cosmo close by to Micha, on the way to see some sights worth seeing. But in the square, a blue dragoness with purple wings and underbelly watched the two of them take off.

"Guess he doesn't like me after all,"the blue dragoness lowly said in a depressed tone.

_Meanwhile_

_Somewhere beyond the Tathric Range_

Frederick leaned down to his hands and knees and scooped up a handful of water from the river into the palm of his hand. He sipped at the water in his handed and repeated the process a few times until he was satisfied.

The three of them decided to make camp beside a small river they came across. Last night they had deer meat over the open fire they made from a flint and stone. The old cave-man way of making a fire. Rita went hunting and brought them the meat of course.

Isaac suggested they took the sticks they found, which was supporting the tent up the night before, with them. Frederick only said that they wouldn't fit in the bags and had to be left behind, unless someone wanted to carry those sticks all day long.

The group was in a forest, traveling through it, while Frederick was studying the map Isaac handed to him. His finger glided across the map as they walked, trying to decipher where exactly they were on it. When he finished, he folded the map back up with no trouble and handed it back to Isaac for safekeeping, stopped for a short moment for Frederick to retrieve a black book from his bag, then they continued the journey. He read the part of where the hero made his way across a mountain range, over a forest, across a swamp, and then he took a rest at an island in the ocean.

Maybe the mountain range was the Tathric Mountains? If so, was Frederick leading Isaac and Rita through the same forest the hero flew over? But that was so long ago, things certainly must have changed. Or did it? Frederick remembered seeing a swamp on the map somewhere on the outskirts of the forest he was in. The swamp didn't have a name but it was a little large on the map. The swamp would be hard to miss when they got close to it.

The three of them still made their way by following the river. Trees surrounded them as well as the sound of wildlife. It was mostly birds chirping but an occasional rabbit or deer was spotted. They always hopped away before they got close.

Then something suddenly popped out of the ground in front of the trio. It was dark greenish looking, slim, and came up to Frederick's waist. A frogweed. Nothing to really worry about but Frederick threw his arm over his back and retrieved his claymore just to be safe. The three humans walked around the frogweed as it just seemed to stare right back at them. Frederick kept a close eye on it until it buried itself back into the ground.

"We must be getting close to the swamp," Isaac pointed out.

"Must be," Rita agreed. "We're moving faster than I thought we were."

Frederick didn't have anything to add so he kept quiet and kept his pace.

_Approximately Thirty Minutes Later_

_Twilight Falls_

Cosmo became surprised at the waterfall he was slowly approaching. It was fairly tall and wide and the falling water just seemed to sparkle as the sun reflected off of it. Him and Micha landed near the base of it into a batch of medium sized grass off the side of the river the water fell in to. A few short trees surrounded them but his view of the waterfall remained unblocked. Cosmo marveled at the sight.

"Welcome to Twilight Falls Cosmo, glad you like it," Micha announced over the crashing noise of the waterfall. She could just tell he adored it by the look in his eyes.

Cosmo looked up toward the top of the waterfall and noticed a cavern. "What's at the top?"

Micha looked up at the top herself, "The catacombs I think."

"Catacombs? Ever been up there?"

"Nope, they say the catacombs is haunted now though." Micha replied, looking at the waterfall itself again. "You should come here at night, the view is much prettier."

"I guess that's why they call it Twilight Falls huh?"

Micha grinned, "I guess so."

Cosmo turned to look at Micha with gratitude in his eye, "Thanks for showing me this Micha. I appreciate it."

Micha blushed a slight bit, "Aw it's no problem at all. I just wish I could get Torch out here more often."

"Oh Torch?" Cosmo began, thinking about the red dragon who helped him during his time of need. "How's he doing?"

"He's good I suppose. He ignores the signs I give him now and then but-"

"Signs?" Cosmo interrupted.

"Yeah, the signs that I want him to go out with me and stop being so dull," Micha answered then gave out a short sigh.

Cosmo thought about a solution then responded, "Maybe you should just . . . I don't know, is he going to the festival?"

"I don't know, he just said that he would think about it."

"You should tell him to go and not ask him then," Cosmo said as a suggestion. "Once he goes then he'll realize on how much he's been missing out with you. Everything would basically fall into place. Tell him how lonely you feel."

"I guess that would work," Micha slowly replied. "Yeah, it would." She smiled and continued with an excited tone, "Thanks Cosmo!"

The two of them spent the next few minutes enjoying the sight of the waterfall, just spending time with one another, but just as friends. Cosmo told Micha of how things were going for him. He told her of how he moved into a friends home and what he had been doing for the past couple of days. He wanted to keep the part of Kali kidnapping him out of the picture so he did just that. Micha seemed to understand it all and politely and quietly sat and listened to what he had to say. He even told her of how he could talk to Kaida through the music box he had. She wouldn't have believed him three weeks ago, before she started seeing ghosts and the supernatural. Now she knew that all things were possible. He kept out the part of Phantom though. He didn't want her to worry about him.

When he finished a few more minutes later, Micha couldn't help but saying, "Sounds like things have been a bit boring for you at most points."

Cosmo didn't have a comeback to that. Instead, he informed, "Well, I think we better be off. Kali is probably wondering where I am by now."

"Your friend right? What was her cat's name again?"

"Yes, and the cat's name is Isis."

Micha nodded, "Okay, well let's go then."


	35. Understanding a Misunderstandment

Chapter 35

Understanding a Misunderstandment

_Time: 5:12 P.M._

_Date: Unknown_

The hero dove then rolled to the side, just barely avoiding the attack of dark energy. The hero made himself scarce and attacked split second charge of the light element. The dark being only blurred to the side as the ball of light collided on the stone wall behind him, leaving a black circular mark on the wall. The enemy glanced at his opposer and threw his arm out in front of him, throwing several icicles at the dragon. Changing elements, the hero blew fire and melted the projectiles. The human's arm fell to his side and he smiled.

"Seems you know your stuff. Not bad. Let's pick up the pace."

The human threw several more icicles at the dragon who opposed him. The dragon melted most of them while others whizzed on by, shattering against the stone wall behind him. The human held two hands together then threw a large fireball a second later. The dragon used the water element and doused the oncoming fireball before it reached him. Steam remained in the air for a short moment before the human continued on with his game.

"Good, good. Looks like you know the weaknesses to the elements as well."

The hero didn't give him a chance to continue though. He attacked with several small fireballs making the enemy dodge them. The fireballs collided against the stone wall and floors, but one hit the crystal. The impact left a small crack in the crystal making the human grind his teeth.

"You'll pay for that! Let's see if you know a few tricks of combining elements."

The cloaked character threw an open palm forward, spraying a forceful water at the black dragon. This wasn't any ordinary water though, the element of electricity was flowing threw the water.

The dragon evaded the first attack but the second one came too quickly for him. The dragon barely managed to cook up his own element combination and used it. Out of his open mouth came an frozen earth missile. The missile collided with the burst of water, froze the water and grounded out the electricity. The frozen water shattered into many pieces as it fell and collided against the wooden flooring.

The enemy seemed to get aggravated at what happened. He thought he had him.

The black dragon decided to attack before his enemy made another move. The dragon shot out a green beam at figure hoping for a hit. The human saw what was coming and shielded himself with magic. A blue, see-through barrier came into existence between the beam and the human. The beam collided against the barrier, protecting the enemy from harm. Plasma wasn't going to work now.

The shield dropped when the attack went to a halt. Right after it dropped, the human countered with a glob of thrown poison. The hero threw a blue shield in front of him himself and the poison hit the shield. The shield disappeared and the glob of poison fell to the wooden floor. The dragon was going to have to stay clear of that.

"So, it's true that you do have abilities just like the six."

The dragon still kept silent. Getting a hit on this enemy was going to be tough. Then he eye'd the crystal the human stood beside of. Or was it really going to be easy?

The dragon quickly attacked with two thrown balls of light. The human noticed where one of them was heading.

"NO!"

The human conjured up a ball of darkness and threw it in front of the crystal. It collided against the ball of light that headed straight for the crystal, stopping it in its tracks. But the other ball of light was headed straight for the human and hit its target dead on. The human took major damage damage as the ball of light collided against him, throwing him to his back.

Seeing his chance, the hero charged up for a final attack. He charged up a purple beam for a few seconds, then fired.

The purple beam collided against the crystal, tearing it into shreds. The crystal broke into pieces and it utterly became destroyed. Black crystal shards fell onto the ground all around the floor, any shards which fell into the glob of poison on the ground melted. The wood around the green spot on the floor seemed a little weak now.

It was done, the crystal was destroyed and his mission was complete. Now that the crystal was destroyed, all the dragons that were infected should return back to their normal, original selves. The hero was about to turn and sprint down the stairs, but suddenly the tower began to shake. An earthquake. The black dragon stumbled to regain his footing as the very floor underneath him cracked. The hero tried to get to the stairs before-.

Too late, the wood underneath him gave way, sending him down the tower the quick way. The dragon fell a few yards as he spread his wings to try and slow himself down before he hit the ground. It done little use though, he was falling too fast. The hero hit the ground hard sending a jolt of pain through his body. He coughed, turned to lie on his back as more wood from up above fell. His vision was blurry but he could tell the floor up above looked unsteady. As long as there wasn't another-.

Again, he thought too soon. The tower began shaking again and the floor up above gave way. The dragon shielded his eyes with a paw as shards of wood fell. Soon afterwards, he heard the flooring crash to the ground beside him. The hero rubbed his eyes to kick the blurriness out of them and slowly stood to his feet. But something was wrong, the dark beings were still banging on the door but now the door looked weak in the hinges. What was going on? After the crystal was destroyed the dragons should have returned back to normal.

His thoughts were interrupted by something stirring in the wreckage of flooring beside him. The dragon's head snapped onto the pile of rubble and saw the human was still alive, struggling to get free. He was pinned underneath a pile of wood and couldn't move.

"You fool!" the human managed from pain. "Destroying the crystal won't save the dark beings on this world. The very atmosphere is keeping them from changing." The human coughed up red blood. He must have broken something on the inside and he was having a hard time breathing. He laughed the best he could despite his injuries which would kill him in just a few minutes. "I don't think you're going to get out of here alive."

Time was slim, the front door came loose and the dark beings were about to get inside. Luckily the fallen wood seemed to barricade the door, for now.

_Present Day_

Cosmo opened the door to his home and quickly walked inside, closing the door behind himself. He immediately saw Isis on the arm of the couch, she turned her head to see who just entered then layed on her belly on the couch arm.

"Look who finally decided to show up," Isis harshly greeted, getting right back up to scratch an itch behind her ear. Then she sat quietly and awaited for a response.

Cosmo looked up at the clock to see it was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon. "Sorry but I ran into Micha in the market."

"Micha? Who's that?"

"She helped me two weeks ago during the hurricane." Cosmo answered. "We found each other in the market and decided to catch up."

"And by catch up, you mean by flying off with her into the great unknown right?"

"What?" Cosmo looked surprised then lowered his voice. "How did you know?"

"Kali told me. She looked sad Cosmo. Are you and Micha dating?"

"Dating?" Cosmo repeated with a raised tone. "No Isis, Micha is with Torch, her boyfriend."

"Wait, so you aren't dating another dragon? There's nothing wrong with it I'm just saying-."

"No," Cosmo interrupted. "And what did you mean by Kali was sad?"

Isis looked down with her eyes, "She likes you Cosmo and she saw you take off with another dragon. How was she supposed to feel?"

"But it was a misunderstanding," Cosmo pointed out in a firm voice. "The only thing she did was showing me Twilight Falls. I never seen it and Micha insisted."

"So she didn't show any interest in you?" Isis asked, making eye contact with him.

"The only interest I saw was a friend interest. We just talked on what was going on between us and how we've been doing. We just caught up, that's it." Cosmo sighed then continued, "Where is Kali?"

"She took the music box and left," Isis replied. "She told me that she could talk to her sister through that. Who is her sister anyways?"

"Kaida's her sister," Cosmo answered as he took his place on the couch. "She's the silver dragon on the painting in Kali's room if you want to see."

_Meanwhile_

_In Kali's Backyard_

Her backyard only consisted of grass and an alleyway in front of it. She rarely went back there because it was so dull looking except for a few exceptions, like this one.

Kali sat on her backdoor step with an open music box in her paw, "I don't understand Kaida, I saw him with another dragon. He doesn't like me like I thought he did."

"That's not true Kali. You've misinterpreted what you saw. Why don't you talk to him and find out for yourself. Explain what you saw and he will understand."

Kali shook her head, "How can I explain it?"

A few moments passed until she heard, "Well, I believe Isis has filled him in on the details so all you have to do is just listen to what he has to say."

"Wait, Cosmo is here? How do you know?"

"I can see everything from way up here Kali. Trust your sister."

Kali stayed silent for a moment, hearing some commotion off in the distance around the alleyway in front of her. She guessed it was some other dragons chatting but it didn't concern her. She continued with confidence in her voice, "Okay Kaida. Thanks for the advice."

"Anytime Kali."

Kali closed the music box and the presence left her mind. She turned around, breathed in, then breathed out a second later. She went for the bronze door handle, grabbed it, then turned it. The door silently opened, she entered, then she silently closed it until it clicked shut. She made her way through the kitchen until she revealed herself in the living room where Cosmo was waiting.

Cosmo looked over to see Kali. She looked down and fidgeted and began with an unsure voice, "Umm, Cosmo."

Cosmo cut her off, "I'm sorry Kali."

"Sorry?" Kali walked over and sat down beside Cosmo. "What are you sorry for?"

Cosmo looked down and wasn't sure of what to say. "I don't know Kali. I'm sorry I made you sad."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for Cosmo. It should be me who's sorry for jumping to conclusions like I did." Cosmo looked over at Kali to see her in a better looking mood. "So who was she? A friend?"

Cosmo shyly grinned, "Yeah. Her name was Micha, we met two weeks ago during the tornado crisis. We just saw each other in the market and decided to catch up."

"And Micha has a boyfriend," Isis added. Kali had to look twice, she didn't even notice her cat sitting on the arm of the couch beside Cosmo. Guess she was too worried to notice before.

_Meanwhile_

Frederick, Rita, and Isaac were knee deep in murky water. They were in a swamp now and crossing the water part to get to the dry land on the other side. But it wasn't dry land when they got to it. It was mud. Isaac was about to complain but held it. They were out in the middle of nowhere and there was complaining wouldn't do a thing other than getting on someone's nerves.

They walked in the mud for a few minutes as Frederick was taking another look at the map. He sluggishly pinpointed where they were and where they had to go to get to the ocean. They would then follow the beach until they reached the desert. Their destination at the moment.

A large patch of tall flowers came by. They looked like daisies. How daisies were growing in the mud Frederick would never know but he walked around them along with Rita. Isaac however was looking elsewhere and didn't notice the patch of daisies, until he stepped on them.

"Hey! What are doing?"

"Sorry Frederick," Isaac apologized. "What's so special about daisies anyways?"

"I made them for my mom thank you very much."

"You're mom? Wait a second," Isaac looked ahead at Frederick and realized he wasn't the one who was talking. "So who am I talking to?"

"Me," a voice went as a golden yellow dragonfly flew in front of Isaac's face and hovered in place.

Isaac eye'd the dragonfly with amazement, "A talking dragonfly? I never thought I would see one in my life."

"And I never thought I would see an ape as dumbstruck as you,"the dragonfly replied.

"Ape?" Isaac replied defensively. "I ought to-"

"Hey," Frederick interrupted. "We aren't looking for trouble dragonfly. We're just looking for a desert."

"A desert? You're a long way from one. I would figure as much from someone of your kind." The dragonfly shook his head and continued, "You know how hard it was to track down daises in a swamp?" The dragonfly crossed his arms and continued, "You are so impolite."

Isaac looked like he was getting upset but Rita cut in front of him, "So what is your name?"

"The name is Sparx. And it's spelled s-p-a-r-x although that wouldn't do you any good now would it?"

"Can you help us Sparx?" Frederick butted in, hoping Rita wasn't about to clobber the dragonfly where he hovered.

"Tell you what," Sparx began. "Fix these daisies and I'll help you out."

"What?" Isaac and Rita simultaneously said.

"Done," Frederick nodded. He turned to Isaac, "Well? Go get some daisies and help Sparx out."

"Why me?" Isaac asked.

"Because you're the one that destroyed it it the first place by stepping in it," he concluded.

Isaac grumbled a few words under his breath as Sparx began flying off into the swamp, motioning Isaac to come along as he did.

_Thirty Minutes Later _

Two dragonflies hovered in front of Frederick, wondering why they were called. One dragonfly was named Flash and was Sparx's father. Nina was his mother and was hovering right beside Flash, beside the river that flowed through the swamp. Frederick's boots sunk down a bit as he stood in one spot as he stood in the mud, hoping he could get a helpful answer.

"So why are you here?" Flash asked, studying the human for a short moment. "It better not be to cause trouble. I know what you humans did to the city."

"We're not here to cause trouble sir," Frederick assured. "We wasn't the humans who attacked the city."

"We're trying to defend it," Isaac added.

Nina sighed in relief, "That's good of you. Now what is it that you need?"

"We were hoping if you could tell us anything about a certain desert. It's named the Parched Desert."

"Parched Desert?" Flash rubbed the base of his neck. "Never heard of it."

Frederick's expression changed to disappointment, "So you don't know anything that could help us?"

Nina shook her head, "We're sorry but we rarely leave this swamp. If someone was to know anything then it would be Sparx. He's been to all sorts of places with his brother."

"Sparx has a brother?" Rita asked from the back.

"Well," Flash began. "We adopted his brother, so to speak. His brother was a purple dragon named Spyro. Sparx said that he was okay and he was living in the city. I wish I could see him again."

"Spyro? I know Spyro, made a few new friends he did."

"Yeah, Sparx told us about Cynder. Spyro's a lucky boy," Flash included.

"He also made friends with a dragon named Cosmo. Did Sparx tell you that?" Frederick asked while shifting his standing position.

"I don't think so," Flash continued. "Nice boy?"

Frederick nodded, "He certainly is."

"Well that's good to know," Nina added in. "I'm glad he's happy."

"Has Sparx considered going back to the city?" Frederick asked out of curiosity.

Flash answered, "Yes. He said that he would go back to Spyro soon. May be tomorrow for all I know. You can't keep up with a boy like him these days."

"Well tell him that a festival will be in the city square this Saturday. It's a celebration for the cities progress. All of you are invited to go."

Nina and Flash looked at each other in thought. They hadn't never went as far as the forest's edge. Were they actually considering it? The two dragonflies looked back at Frederick and Nina spoke for both of them, "We'll consider your offer."

Frederick made a small grin in response and continued, "Well, I apologize for taking your time Mr. and Mrs."

"Oh I'm sorry," Nina began, waving off the mistake she made. "My name is Nina."

The other dragonfly introduced himself, "Flash."

"And there's no reason to apologize," Nina started but was cut short for a reason Frederick was smiling about.

"Seems we both forgot our manners. My name is Frederick," Frederick pointed behind at the other two. "Her name is Rita and his name is Isaac."

Flash looked at all three of them, "Well Frederick, Rita, and Isaac, I wish all of you luck in your quest."

"Thank you," Frederick slightly bowed his head. "May we see each other again on the road ahead."

Flash and Nina smiled and tilted their heads up and down as an agreement.

_Later_

Spyro looked into the crib just to have Star look straight back at him. Spyro smiled at how the little dragon's eyes stared into his. Star smiled and rolled over to cover his face as if he suddenly became shy. The purple dragon watched him for a few minutes until he found out that Star fell asleep. Spyro's eyes looked through a nearby window to see that it was dark out. What time was it?

Spyro looked around the room and spotted Ignitus and Cynder on the other side of the room. They were talking about something but when Spyro started listening in they stopped. Were they talking about him?

"What time is it?" the purple dragon asked as he walked over toward them.

Ignitus looked up at the clock that hung on the wall over near the fireplace, "Ten past nine."

Cynder looked over at the clock herself in disbelief, "Where did the time go?"

"It seemed to fly on by," Ignitus said.

"I guess we better head on home," Cynder proposed.

Spyro shook his head, "I don't want to, but I guess we should."

"I won't be going anywhere at the moment," Ignitus reassured. "I'll be here when you need me."

Spyro looked back up at the new Chronicler with a smile of gratitude.


	36. The Night at Twilight Falls

Chapter 36

The Night at Twilight Falls

_Time: 5:20 P.M._

_Date: Unknown_

The hero made his way up the stairs as far as he could go before they ended near the top of the tower. He turned around and looked down toward the tower entrance to see the dark beings beginning to get through inch by inch. There wasn't much time left. He had to think of something, but what?

He quickly thought things through then hatched an idea. The black dragon looked down to the tower rubble below then combined the elements of water and electricity. The deadly water erupted out of his mouth as it fell onto the tower floor below. Soon, the bottom floor was covered with water, not enough to even bury a paw but enough to let any dark being know that stepping in any water whatsoever was a bad idea. It would at least buy the hero a little more time than before.

The black dragon looked around the inside of the tower walls but he only saw barred windows. That was it! The windows! The hero flew up and hovered to the nearest one on his left and began using the element of ice on the bars. The frosted breath covered the bars and it began to show a light blue texture.

Then he heard the sound of something breaking downstairs. Right after that he heard the sound of someone getting electrocuted by the water trap he laid out for them. Definitely not much time left now.

The bars began to show a sign of freezing in them but it wasn't enough yet. The hero heard the sound of someone else getting electrocuted down below. He suddenly felt sorry for these dragons. Nothing could save them now. But if he didn't get out of the situation he was in, he was going to be the one who needed the saving.

The hero heard something down below making him look down. Dark beings were coming up the stairs now. He closed his mouth and slammed himself against the bars, hoping for them to shatter. He was only rewarded with a crack in each of them so he continued. He slammed himself harder this time. The bar's cracks broke in and the bars were leaning outwards. One more time, he made himself into a battering ram and the bars finally broke. The hero managed to fit himself through the window just as the dark beings made it to him. The hero was saved by luck and he was free.

But something else was going on. The hero heard a loud rumbling noise but couldn't tell what it was. Until he looked down. The ground was violently shaking meaning that there was another earthquake. He couldn't feel it for he was flying but could tell that this was the worst one of them all just by looking at the tower he just escaped. The earthquake was causing the tower to lean over. The hero didn't stop to enjoy the sight though. He only flew toward the portal back home, the black smoke that was looming in the desert.

Only moments after the earthquake ceased, the hero heard the sound of something crumbling behind him. He looked back long enough to see the tower collapse and crumble to the ground. Dust and dirt decorated the sight right afterwards as well as the booming sound of it all hitting the ground and destroying the stone wall that the tower fell on. It was the sight of victory as well as agony. Those infected dragons that were inside of the tower couldn't have survived something like that.

Then the hero spotted several electrical explosions underneath him as he flew. More than just several, a whole lot. It was the minefield he flew over earlier, either the earthquake set it off or debris and it was causing a chain reaction.

The hero avoided looking at it by looking up at the giant planet that loomed in the sky just above him. He knew that planet he was looking at was his very own home. The only was to save it was to destroy this dark planet for it was on a collision course and it looked like everything was going as planned. The dark planet was crumbling and soon it would be nothing but a memory.

But the black dragon noticed something bad. The black smoke, the portal, was dissipating. This, of course, certainly wasn't good at all and made the dragon speed up into a dive.

He was getting close to the portal already going as fast as he could. There wasn't much of the portal left. The hero closed his eyes and everything went white.

_Present Day_

Spyro sat on Cynder's couch, deeply in thought about asking her a certain question that was on his mind for quite a while now. He wanted to ask it but fear of how she would respond kept him back. He looked at the dead fireplace in front of him and sighed. He wanted to stay with Cynder more and his well thought out question was very simple.

The purple dragon was about to lie down until he heard a creak come from beside him. He looked over to see Cynder emerging from her bedroom. This was it, he had to ask her. The unanswered question would only continue to hold him back until he got it off his chest.

Cynder was about to walk into the kitchen on the other side of the living room when she heard, "Hey Cynder." It was low and it made Cynder stop in her tracks right behind the couch Spyro sat on.

Cynder lifted her two front paws and set them on the back of the couch for support while she looked down at Spyro, "What is it?" It sounded as if she somehow knew what he was going to ask.

Spyro turned around on the couch and sat on his folded legs underneath him. "I was wondering about something." He scratched the back of his head out of nervousness and continued. "You don't have to answer right away."

Cynder smiled, lowering her head even lower toward Spyro. The two of them were only inches apart. "Well what is it you want to ask me?"

Ten slow and quiet seconds passed until Spyro finally asked, "Can I come in and live with you?"

Cynder's smile quickly disappeared and she looked the other way. Spyro suddenly regretted what he just asked when he noticed Cynder's reaction. She backed down off the back of the couch and made her around it. Spyro turned back around on the couch to face the right way as Cynder sat down beside him. Cynder looked at his eyes the best she could but Spyro was looking down toward the floor.

"Sorry," Spyro quietly apologized.

"Yeah well . . . you should be Spyro. Why would you ask such a thing?"

Spyro went to answer but found that he couldn't. He didn't have anything to say at that point.

He only sighed as Cynder continued, "I thought you were already living with me."

Spyro perked up and looked at Cynder in the eyes, "You . . . you did?"

Cynder nodded, "Of course I did."

Spyro showed a little more happiness inside of him. He turned to Cynder and showed a slight grin, "Thanks Cynder."

She only smiled, leaned over, and the two of them shared a passionate kiss. Spyro leaned back as well and the two of them fell on top of each other, still sharing their love for each other.

_The Next Day_

_Nearing 10 P.M._

_Somewhere Beyond the Tathric Range_

Things were going smoothly for the three adventurous humans. The managed to get through the swamp in one peace but not without running into some frogweeds and bulb spiders along the way. They were skillfully defeated by Rita's bow or Isaac and Frederick's sword. Frederick took out the most for Isaac wasn't as experienced. He was still learning at that ways of the sword but was skilled enough with one to defend himself.

They were near the outskirts of the swamp, camping for the night to pass on by. The three of them had been wading through water all day and were quite tired. It was hard to see the stars through the trees and clouds as they sat around the campfire, wasting the rest of the day away. The small orange tent was already set up, however they weren't quite sleepy yet. Tired, but not sleepy.

Frederick was reading bits and pieces of the black book Aruto gave him, Isaac was sharpening his sword with a carborundum stone. These stones usually had one rough side and one smooth side. The smooth side was so Isaac could set it on a hard surface while he used the rough side to sharpen the sword. Rita was studying the map trying to pinpoint where they were.

Frederick was a bit interested in the six spirit guardians. How they appeared unto certain dragons as signs of their future, was that their jobs now? But the white spirit guardian still remained a mystery. What did it mean?

The dragon that could change colors, the book never told his name nor his fate. Frederick read on how he flew for the portal but the book never told if he made it through or not. What became of him?

_Meanwhile_

_Kali's Home_

Cosmo backed up to the corner of his room as Kali approached him. Kali slowly made her way over to him, likely on purpose, and stopped right in front of his muzzle.

"Kali stop! I like you but aren't you taking this too far!"

"Oh come on," Kali softly replied. "You know you want me."

Suddenly Cosmo found himself kissing Kali. Cosmo was going to pull away, but couldn't for he realized something. He was enjoying it. It was something Cosmo wasn't expecting to be. It was warm and heavenly and Cosmo shut his eyes in delight. Kali's feminine scent caught Cosmo's nostrils as he breathed. It smelled so good and made him melt on the inside.

Then Kali pulled away, making Cosmo open his eyes. She was looking at him with a seductive smile then said, "Now just get on the bed and I'll do the rest. Trust me."

_4:21 A.M._

Cosmo opened his eyes to find himself in his room. Everything was dark so he felt around himself. He was in the bed by himself.

"_Some dream_," Cosmo thought.

He looked over toward the window on his left to see the streets of Warfang lit up by the lamp posts on the side of them. Some of them were off though and the ones that were on didn't generate enough light to keep him awake. Even if they did, he could just throw a cover over the window and block it out.

Cosmo comfortably laid back down on his bed, only to find himself tossing and turning. The dream he had was making sleep nearly impossible at the moment. He wouldn't shiver at the thought of mating as he used to, but he still didn't prefer it. Or at least he thought he didn't. He heard some dreams came from a personal fear.

Cosmo looked up toward the ceiling under his blanket in thought. "_Do I have a fear of mating with someone like Kali? Mating season is just around the corner after all._" Cosmo found himself shaking his head afterwards, "_What am I thinking? Me mating, that's funny._" Cosmo peacefully sighed, "_She is beautiful though. And if she kisses like she does in my dream then I wouldn't mind breaking a leg for her attention. Better not jinx myself though._"

Cosmo closed his eyes for a few minutes but still found that sleep was out of reach for the moment. The yellow scaled dragon pulled the blanket off himself and sat on the edge of his bed as he wiped the cold from the corner of his eye. He then stood to his feet and made his way into the living room and went for the kitchen. He walked past the mini bar and headed for one of the overhead cabinets on the left, opened it, and retrieved a short glass cup. He made his way to the sink beside the fridge and filled the glass half full of water out the faucet. He was about to take a sip when he noticed a figure his size walk into the kitchen.

"Can't sleep?" the blue dragoness asked quietly, making her way to Cosmo's side.

Cosmo took a sip of water then shook his head and swallowed, "I managed to get a few hours of sleep but . . . yeah . . . what you said." His voice was quiet as well. They didn't want to wake Isis up, who was sleeping in her cat like bed near the fireplace. "Can't sleep either?"

"Same as you," Kali replied. "I don't even feel tired or sleepy now."

"Me either," Cosmo added, taking another swallow of water then set the glass on the counter beside him. It still had a little less than half. "So now what?"

Kali thought as she grabbed Cosmo's glass and took a swallow of it's contents. "I'm thinking."

"What if I was sick?" Cosmo asked.

Kali looked down at the glass she was holding then said, "If you were then oh well. I don't mind."

Kali offered the glass back to Cosmo which he accepted. He took another sip then continued the conversation from before, "Thought of anything yet?"

"Actually I think I did," Kali replied with a smile. "Want to go to Twilight Falls?"

"Twilight Falls? That's a little ways away and it's 4 a.m." Cosmo indicated, drinking up the last bit of the water. He set the glass in the sink to be washed in the morning.

Kali shrugged, "Yeah, I just want to get out of the city."

"Alright, I'll go." The reply made Kali smile in happiness.

"You mean it?"

"Of course," Cosmo responded in a higher tone. He lowered it, remembering about Isis sleeping then continued, "I wouldn't let you go alone."

"Then we should leave a note for Isis just in case she wakes up and looks for us."

"Yeah that would be smart. It took me and Micha about an hour to get there and back. Of course, we went straight there and straight back and we didn't stay at the falls for very long."

Kali looked out of the window in front of her to see the same thing Cosmo seen earlier, "We might make it back before six then. If not then Isis will be fine. She's been by herself many times before."

"So when are we leaving?"

"Well, now I was hoping. Unless you want to grab a quick snack."

Cosmo declined, "Naw that's alright. Dinner was good enough for me."

Kali looked toward the exit and began heading there, "Alright come on. Just be quiet."

"What about the note?" Cosmo reminded.

"Note? Oh yeah. The stuff is in my room so I'll be right back."

Forgetting about the note so quickly made Cosmo smile. She could be forgetful at times but the important things she always remembered. Cosmo still remembered what element Kali knew. Shadow. She used it against him during their struggle the first time they met. He wished it was under better circumstances but it didn't matter now. She was on his side now and he was happy for it.

Kali was in her room, writing the note on plain white paper with ink and a quill on her dresser. Barely able to see in the dark, she carefully wrote,

**Me and Cosmo went to Twilight Falls to pass the time. We should be back around seven. **

It was simple and straight to the point. Kali knew Isis didn't really care much for details. She set the quill back in the small inkwell and waited for the fresh ink to dry. This only took a minute. When it was dry, Kali carried the paper with her two front paws while walking on her two back paws to Isis, reading the paper in the process to make sure the ink didn't run. She noticed Cosmo waiting at the door for her as she carefully set the note beside Isis. Satisfied, she made her way to the door where Cosmo slowly opened the door, letting her out, then slowly closed it back. It was a little cold out but Cosmo didn't mind. Kali didn't seem to mind it either.

The two dragons walked down the street a few meters until Cosmo said, "I didn't know you could walk on two legs."

Kali smiled at the compliment, "Yeah but I can't do it for a long time. My back legs would tire out."

"How long is a long time?"

Kali shrugged, "I don't know, an hour or so. Most dragons can stand on two legs but they mostly prefer four." Kali laughed at herself a short moment before continuing, "Why am I telling you this?"

Cosmo forced a grin in response, "Why indeed?"

Kali laughed a bit more then returned to her normal, serious but sometimes playful, tone. "Well, we should start flying. There's no way I'm walking the whole way there."

"Agreed," Cosmo said, taking off into the sky first. He gently beat his wings in one fluid motion, heading upwards as he did. He looked back to see Kali coming up beside him.

_Later_

The trip was mostly filled with conversation about their favorite foods, fairies and other mystical creatures, and other random sort of stuff. Cosmo didn't know to believe in fairies or not so when Kali asked, he just shrugged. She also mentioned fauns but again, Cosmo didn't know whether to believe in them or not. They were mythical creatures after all.

They took a ten minute break around the halfway point in some sort of opening in the forest. Kali told him it was called the enchanted forest but she never said on how it was enchanted. Maybe it was just a name they came up with. The forest was filled with these firefly like bugs, but they looked a little bigger than fireflies. It was also filled with the singing of crickets and the howling of a nearby wolf. He sounded quite close but Kali didn't seem to be frightened at all by them.

When they returned back into the air, Cosmo began looking up into the starry sky. It was beautiful with the exception of a few clouds here and there to block out some parts. There was so many stars out and visible that the sky looked like a twinkling night show. He also looked up and saw several planets. Both near and far. Some disguised themselves as stars but the difference between a star and a planet is that planet's don't twinkle. The large planets that hung in the sky were also a sight to behold. There was only two but it was still wonderful. Cosmo asked Kali if there was life on any of those planets, she only shrugged and said, "Who knows? Maybe," and continued on flying.

Then they finally arrived after a one hour and ten minute flight. They made it twenty minutes earlier than he thought he would, but he didn't know that for he didn't have a clock to see.

The two of them were still flying, but the sight of Twilight Falls in the distance was unmistakeable. Kali led Cosmo from this point on, leading him toward the base of the waterfall. Cosmo thought she was heading for the same place he and Micha landed at, but she went toward the left side of the waterfall instead. They landed on some flat rocky part, a fourth of the way up the waterfall. The ledge was also kind of big, about twenty yards wide and ten yards long. The rocks were submerged in water but the two dragons could easily walk in it. Cosmo shivered for the water was cold but he quickly grew used to it and looked around his surroundings more carefully. They stood beside the waterfall in a place up the cliff wall where the water leaked out a bit. The rocks they stood on were slightly slick but Cosmo's grip easily held in place. There also that perfect view of the sky above them, even the clouds seemed to be off in the distance, away from Cosmo's point of view.

"It's been so long since I've last been here, " Kali said, making her way to Cosmo's side.

Both of them stood near the edge of the rocky cliff they stood on. Below was a river, which the waterfall formed, and it headed straight through the Enchanted Forest and into the Valley of Avalar. Twilight Falls was no doubt, Warfang's primary water source.

Cosmo heard her fine over the crashing noise of the waterfall below. "First time I've been here at night."

"Really?"

Cosmo nodded, "Sure is. I can see how they call it Twilight Falls now."

The two of them stood in the calm water and faced each other. Kali spoke with an obvious question, "Beautiful isn't it?"

Cosmo answered, "If I said no I would be lieing."

Kali smiled at the response. She looked down at the paw deep water below her and Cosmo looked back towards the sky. Kali fiddled with the water some, then splashed some on Cosmo. It wasn't much, but just enough to get his attention.

"Hey, what did you do that for?"

Kali only splashed more water on Cosmo but it was a little more this time. Cosmo wiped his face from water while Kali spoke, "Come on Cosmo. You gotta have some fun in that serious personality of yours somewhere."

Cosmo raised an eyebrow, "Fun? You don't think I can have fun?"

"Well you certainly haven't shown me," Kali replied, splashing more water on him.

Cosmo wiped his face off again and splashed some water on Kali for a change. But she only showed that same smile she shown earlier.

"Now you're getting it," Kali praised. In the meantime, she splashed even more water on Cosmo. He was getting quite wet.

"Now you are getting it!" Cosmo loudly mimicked. He kicked his front paw into the shallow water below, kicking up water at Kali. She tried to get out the way but still got wet. She looked over at Cosmo to see him laughing, "You're all wet!"

"I'm not the only one," Kali smirked. She ran toward Cosmo and splashed as much water as she could toward him. He was about to evade by going backwards, but he realized that he was standing in front of a cliff and that wasn't a great idea. By the time he tried running toward the right, he already gotten totally wet except for his dark gray underbelly.

"Gah that's cold!" Cosmo exclaimed. If he wasn't completely awake before he definitely was now. Kali laughed at how wet he was and Cosmo tried shaking himself dry. It sort of worked but he was still mostly wet.

"Poor Cosmo," Kali mocked. "All wet."

"You aren't so bad yourself," Cosmo replied. He was surprised that neither he or Kali was shivering at the moment.

"I'm not as bad as you though," Kali pointed out. "So it seems you do know how to have fun."

"Of course," Cosmo said, kicking up more water at Kali. The sudden attack caught her off guard and to top it off, she was too close to get out the way. It didn't stop her from throwing up a paw to cover her face though. Kali looked at herself, she was all wet now, just like Cosmo. "Now we're even," Cosmo smirked.

Kali laughed, "That's funny. I remember getting you five times and you only got me four times."

Cosmo only kicked up more water at Kali, but she was expecting him to do that and was prepared. She ran off to the side making his attack miss, then she headed for the ledge and simply dove off the edge. Cosmo watched her spread her wings and glide all the way down to the base of the waterfall onto a grassy area on the right of the river. Kali looked back up at Cosmo was still looking downwards at her. He never did something like she did before. It kind of looked like fun in his eyes.

The yellow dragon could see Kali motioning him to come on down, so he did. He leaped off the edge and fell a little ways before opening his blue colored wings and he felt his fall come to a slow descent. He circled over Kali several times before safely landing beside her.

Cosmo found himself in a trance when he looked at Kali. Her wet blue scales seemed to reflect the moonlight and make her even more astonishing than before. Her tail was wrapped around her legs and she too was looking back at Cosmo, but not in the same way. It was then that Cosmo knew he had developed feeling for this dragoness that sat in front of him. This was it, he had to tell her. He didn't want to keep secrets from someone like her. He didn't know how she would react, but it had to be done before he let the relationship go on.

"Kali," Cosmo began, still looking for the words.

"Yeah?"

A few seconds past until Cosmo continued, "I need to tell you something about me. Something that only one being knows about."

Kali looked a bit worried, "Well, if you must."

Cosmo put a paw on his forehead and shook his head. He had to tell her the truth. If he waited, things could become disastrous. So he went on, despite his thoughts, "There's a reason why I never been to Twilight Falls before until the other day. Or how I've never been out the city, other than being in Velxtra Forest with you. And the same reason is why I didn't know moles built this city. Well . . . you see, I'm not from around here." Cosmo shrugged, "I'm not even from this realm."

"What are you talking about?" Kali asked, still dripping with water. Cosmo was dripping as well.

"I know this will sound crazy but . . . I used to be a human."

Cosmo closed his eyes, waiting to here some type of outburst come from the blue dragoness in front of him. He waited . . . but he never heard anything from her. Was she too shocked for words? Cosmo forced his eyes back open to see Kali a lot closer to him than she was before.

"What is this?" Cosmo quietly asked. "I thought that you would be . . ."

"Upset?" Kali finished. Cosmo nodded. He couldn't tell what she was feeling from the dull voice she gave out. Kali continued, "I'm not upset, I'm not even that surprised to tell you the truth. Before you ask, I'll explain. Before I kidnapped you that day in the cemetery, all Phantom would talk about was how different you were. How . . . unique. But Cosmo, I don't care about your past. If you thought that was going to get in the way then you thought wrong. Besides, you are a dragon. Do you enjoy being a dragon Cosmo?"

Cosmo looked at Kali straight in the eyes, "Yes, yes I do. Being a dragon is wonderful. It's better than being a human." Cosmo went silent before continuing, "Don't you feel a little awkward though?"

"Don't you feel awkward liking a female dragon?" Kali returned.

Cosmo shook his head, "No, I don't."

"Then there you go. From what I can tell, you are one hundred percent dragon. I don't know how it happened nor do I care."

Cosmo perked up at that statement, "Yeah, you're right Kali. I am one hundred percent dragon and proud of it."

Kali smiled, "Great!" Then she pounced on Cosmo like a cat, knocked him down under her. Cosmo got the breath knocked out of him and Kali only giggled at him. Cosmo laid down, trapped underneath Kali as she looked straight into his blue eyes while Cosmo couldn't help but look straight back into hers. He felt like he could do anything at the moment with Kali looking at him the way she was.

Then the two of them shared something remarkable. Just like in Cosmo's dream, they shared one blissful kiss. It felt so warm and Cosmo couldn't help but inhaling her scent. It smelled so wonderful and the kiss they still shared was something that Cosmo couldn't explain. When he left Kali's home earlier, he wasn't expecting all of this to happen so suddenly.


	37. See, I Do Take Advice

Chapter 37

See, I Do Take Advice

_8:54 A.M._

Micha stirred up the fried eggs in the frying pan and set them aside on the kitchen counter. Another plate of sausage and bacon sat right beside it, still cooling down from just being cooked. Micha set the spoon she used aside and made her way into the living room where Torch was. He was there, more or less. He was laid back on the couch in a slouched, uncomfortable looking position daydreaming the morning away.

"Breakfast is ready," Micha announced.

Torch shook his head of his trance and sat up straight to a more comfortable pose. "Alright," he simply replied. He still sounded a bit congested from the cold he caught the other day.

Micha forced a smile and made her way back into the kitchen. By the time she rounded the corner her smile disappeared and replaced with something someone made when they were thinking about something someone said. In this case she was remembering what Cosmo told her about being forceful toward Torch and making him go to the festival with her. Then maybe he would realize on how much more Micha had to offer to him.

She leaned on the counter thinking of what the festival was going to be like. Games, singing, dinner, all under the moonlight. She looked over at the large window on the other side of the table and made her way to it and looked up into the sky. Didn't look like there were many clouds in the sky. She hoped it would stay that way.

The pink dragoness turned back around and made her way back towards the breakfast sitting on the counter. It smelled delicious yet Micha didn't want it. She wanted to eat with Torch, not by herself like she usually ended up doing. So she grabbed two wooden plates from an overhead cabinet and evenly divided the food between them.

She grabbed the two plates and made her way into the living room, walking on her two hind legs. Torch noticed and watched her hand a plate to him which he couldn't help but accept. Micha sat down right beside him and began eating some sausage.

When Micha swallowed she asked, "So you going to the festival with me?"

Torch sighed, "I don't know. I'm still a little sick."

Micha frowned and looked down at her plate, suddenly losing her appetite. Then she took in Cosmo's advice and turned to Torch, "Well, you're going whether you like it or not."

Torch looked over at her unexpectedly, "But I'm sick."

"You'll feel just as bad at the festival. You are going with me."

Torch looked down at his breakfast. He cleared his throat then went on, "Alright, if it's that important to you then I guess I have no choice."

"Darn right," Micha replied, taking another bite of sausage.

"So when is it?" Torch asked, picking up a strip of bacon.

"Tonight," she muffled, then swallowed. "At seven."

Torch took a bite of his bacon then swallowed a few moments later. "Alright. It's been a while since we went out anyways."

Micha smiled at that last sentence. "Yes, it has." She ate some more food then remembered a few minutes later about Cosmo. "I ran into Cosmo yesterday."

"Oh really?" Torch said in a livelier voice. "Where at?"

"Market. Would you believe me if I said that he never heard of Twilight Falls or the Valley of Avalar?"

"He never heard of those places?" Torch asked, chomping on some sausage.

"I had no choice but to show him Twilight Falls for myself," Micha answered.

"And?"

"What do you think? He loved it."

Torch grinned then asked, "Did you take him the valley as well?"

Micha swallowed some egg and answered, "No, he said that his friend was waiting for him."

"Spyro?" Torch assumed.

"Kali."

"Who's that?"

Micha shrugged, "Never met her but apparently Cosmo is living with her along with her pet cat."

"Are they mates?"

"I don't know," she replied. "Why don't you ask him at the festival?"

"He's going to the festival?" Torch asked, seeming as if he was excited all the sudden.

"Yep," Micha smiled. "If you don't want to go then that's fine. You can stay here, all by yourself, while me, Cosmo, and his friend Kali have some fun."

"Stay here? No way," Torch responded. "We're going there together."

Micha turned to her breakfast and began munching on some bacon, all happy on the inside.

_Cosmo's Dreams_

Cosmo didn't know where he was, other than he was surrounded by darkness. The dream somehow seemed familiar to him. He didn't know how or why.

He was surrounded by darkness, yet his night vision ability wasn't working like it should. He had the power to freely used it if he wanted to or not, but when he tried, nothing would happen. He only walked, feeling a stone cold flooring underneath him. But he looked down and didn't see anything to stand on. The only thing he saw were stars under him. Was he walking on the stars?

Then he felt a presence nearby. He couldn't see anyone but knew someone had to be there.

"Hello!"

The only response he heard was from a female voice, "At last, you have found everything you wanted. For that, you shall be rewarded. Please allow me to reveal your last hidden strength."

Then everything went dark.

_Twilight Falls_

_9 A.M._

The birds morning chirping was barely audible over the waterfall, yet, they still sung to to the morning sun. A couple of squirrels hopped across the grass as well as the morning bugs, flying to and from various flowers and plants.

Cosmo stirred, silently moaned, and creaked his eyes open. The morning sun made him squint until his eyes adjusted so he could open them all the way. He was going to rub them but noticed something else. Kali was sound asleep, cuddled up in Cosmo's embrace. One of her wings laid over Cosmo as a warm blanket and Kali was warm by snuggling up with Cosmo's chest with he head near the base of his neck.

He guessed they must have fell asleep last night. Or this morning more like it.

He couldn't bring around to waking her up. She looked so happy and comfortable where she was and he didn't want to bother her. Cosmo just looked over at the waterfall and watched it for a few minutes. However it wasn't long before Kali began moving. Cosmo looked down at her to see her stretching her limbs with her eyes still closed. She yawned, then opened them. She saw that it was daylight and was about to get up until she noticed the position she was in. She looked up at Cosmo and he looked right back down at her, both of them smiling in happiness.

"Morning," Cosmo greeted. "Sleep well?"

"No thanks to your snoring, yes," she replied, showing a smirk. "What time is it?"

"I don't know," Cosmo responded. "Morning time."

Kali looked over to where the sun was and could tell it was still morning. She forced herself up while Cosmo gave her that 'why' look. "Come on, we gotta get back home."

"Not my fault you fell asleep," Cosmo said, getting up himself. He stretched his bones and looked at the waterfall one last time before they left.

"You fell asleep. Remember? You said that if I fell asleep, you would wake me up? Instead of me, you fell asleep."

"So why didn't you wake me?" Cosmo curiously asked.

"Same reason why you didn't wake me up earlier," she answered. Kali spread her wings and looked at Cosmo, "Shall we get going?"

Cosmo grinned, "Right behind you."

_Meanwhile_

Spyro spent most of his day with Ignitus. Cynder, on the other hand, spent it watching Star. Felenia would occasionally check in and see how she was doing then head on back to her duties. Star slept most of the time, but when he was awake, he showed a liking to Cynder. The dragon rarely cried. When he did it was only because he wanted something to eat. Felenia took care of that. Afterwards, Cynder played with Star after she took him out the crib. He slowly crawled around the room, grabbing anything that looked interesting, play with it to the best of his abilities, then move on to the next object that caught his little eye. It amused black dragoness while she sat on the bed, keeping a close eye on him.

Cynder thought about having a child of her own. It was just being with Star made her think a lot about it. Maybe one day, her thoughts would come true.

Then her thoughts vanished as two dragons entered the room. One large, the other her size. It was Ignitus and Spyro. Ignitus set his eyes on Cynder, watching Star in Felenia's place.

"Hey," Cynder simply greeted, not taking her eyes off Star.

"Hey Cynder," Spyro replied.

"I trust you had a good morning?" Ignitus added.

Cynder nodded, "Yeah. I thought Star would be more . . .-"

"Troubling?" Ignitus finished.

"Yeah," she responded. "But he hasn't. Are all the baby dragons like that?"

Ignitus looked over toward the crib where Star was. He was sitting on the floor, fiddling with a small ball made just for him. He seemed to love it. "Well, during my time I've seen it only a few times. I wouldn't call it something out of the ordinary."

"So you mean that it's rare?" Spyro asked.

"You can say that," Ignitus answered, looking toward the purple dragon looking up to him.

Star mumbled something that no one could understand. The dragons looked over at him to see him looking over at Ignitus and Spyro.

"All I heard was blah blah blah," Spyro said.

Cynder regarded to Spyro, still watching Star, "Of course you did, a baby his age can't talk. But at least he's trying."

_Somewhere Beyond the Tathric Range_

Rita studied the map, while Frederick and Isaac packed up the tent and supplies. She figured they were somewhere in the forest considering all the trees that were around them. They ran into a few more frogweeds and bulb spider the night before, but it was nothing that they couldn't handle. A bulb spider nearly got Isaac at one point by sneaking up behind him. The spider was quickly dealt with by Rita's bow though so the spider went nowhere fast.

When everything was packed up, the last thing Frederick did was kick some dirt over the ashes of where they made a fire from last night to make sure it was out. Then they headed out using Rita's map and Isaac's compass as their guide. If they headed northwest they would eventually end up at the coast of the ocean where the hero supposedly flew over to get to the Parched Desert. Their plan was to find the ocean's coast and follow it. Pretty simple.

They made their way through the forest, only for it to turn into an unexplored jungle. The trees grew thick and the bushes blocked the path. Isaac was made to take point and use his sword to make a path, cutting and slashing through limbs and leaves that blocked their way. Pretty soon, the jungle wildlife began making themselves known to the three explorers. The humans heard exotic birds and monkeys, which they would occasionally see up in the trees. During the whole exhausting trip, for Isaac at least, they did not spot any deer whatsoever. They spotted nearly everything else. From a hedgehog to a red fox, there were many of them. However they didn't suspect any danger.

Then the three of them heard a roar of some kind coming from behind them. They all turned around to see the source, only to see a panther running straight for them.

"So that's where the deer went," Isaac said, readying himself. Frederick noticed his offensive stance.

"That probably won't be necessary Isaac," Frederick indicated. "Rita?"

"I'm on it," she replied. She withdrew her black bow and nocked an arrow onto it. She carefully took aim as the panther closed in, then she let the arrow fly.

The arrow flew and hit it's target right in the head. The panther fell and it's body tumbled a few feet before stopping on the new path the humans made for themselves. Rita smiled in satisfaction and strapped the bow back onto her back.

"Well that takes care of that," Rita turned toward Frederick to see him nodding in appraisal.

"Good, now shall we continue?" Frederick urged, looking back toward Isaac.

Isaac looked down as his compass, turned to face the northwest, and continued his hacking and slashing "So when will we arrive at the ocean?"

"Probably a few hours," Rita answered. "Maybe more, depending if we run into any more obstacles on the way there."

"Obstacles?" Isaac went, cutting another piece of limb that hung over their path.

"Like the panther," Rita said like she didn't expect him to ask that.

Isaac looked back with his eyes while he still walked, "Well it seems you know how to take care of them easily."

"Of course," Rita agitated. "A quick shot to the head would kill anyone."

The rest of the trip was mostly quiet with the exception of the noises of wildlife. They traveled for another twenty to thirty minutes until Frederick took point to give Isaac's arm a rest. Isaac gladly lended his sword over to him while they traveled.

When Frederick chopped through some bushes, he began walking some, not paying attention to his front-side. As he went to take his next step, he began to fall. Luckily, Isaac was right behind him to grab his backpack and pull him out of it.

"You need to pay more attention," Isaac grunted, heaving Frederick back toward him.

Frederick looked down to notice one of those obstacles that Rita was talking about. It wasn't a living obstacle like the panther though. It was a large chasm that dropped down into a darkness, from which there on, Frederick couldn't see.

"Where did this come from?" Frederick scratched his head. The chasm stretched as far as the eye could see. "Rita, was this on the map?"

"Hold on a second," Rita said, pulling out the map from Isaac's bag. After a few minutes of pinpointing, she found the most suitable spot of where they could be at and noticed that the chasm wasn't on the map. "Sorry, it doesn't look like it's on here."

"Looks like we're on uncharted ground," Isaac indicated. "So how long do you think this chasm is?" Isaac examined the chasm himself. It sure was long, but it was a little slim. It was only fifteen yards across to the other side.

"Should we see if we can walk around it?" Rita asked, looking down the jungle, following the chasm.

Frederick nodded. "Yeah, it would be best." He looked up into the treetops to see the tree limbs on the other side, stretching over to their side of the chasm, rubbing up against the tree limbs on their side. The sunlight barely leaked through any gap that was in the jungle.

_Later_

_Kali's Home_

Cosmo and Kali finally made it back home at ten in the morning. Cosmo opened the door, being the gentleman that he was, and let Kali in first. He followed in afterwards, closing the door behind him. The first thing they looked for was Isis. The note was still in the same place Kali put it, but the cat was gone.

"Isis," Kali called out. "We're home."

Cosmo waited for the cat just to pop up out of nowhere as she always did. Somehow, Isis ended up behind him without either of them noticing.

"Yeah?" Isis said. The sudden voice made Cosmo turn around, a little startled as he did.

"How do you do that?" Cosmo asked. Putting a paw on his chest.

"Natural talent," the cat simply answered with an amused tone. She returned to her more serious tone when she asked, "Did you two have fun?"

"Yes," Kali said for both of them. "At least I had fun."

Cosmo looked over at Kali, "What do you mean by that? I had fun just as much as you did."

Kali grinned, remembering what day it was. "Well we're gonna have even more fun tonight."

Cosmo raised an eyebrow, trying to decipher what she meant. "What's tonight?"

"The festival silly," Kali giggled. She looked down at Isis who stood beside Cosmo. "Are you going Isis?"

Isis shrugged her little shoulders, "I'll check it out I suppose."

Kali looked back up at Cosmo, "And you're going as well I hope?"

"Of course I am."


	38. Guide You Home

Chapter 38

Guide You Home

_Somewhere in an Uncharted Jungle_

It didn't matter how far they went or how determined they were, the chasm would just keep on following the trio. Jumping across it wasn't an option for the ledges were too far apart and walking around it was also leaning toward the outrageous. They had been walking for an hour nonstop. None of them knew how much longer this chasm could go but what other choice did they have?

Frederick looked up into the thick tree limbs above them, obviously trying to think up of some idea to save them time. A few minutes later, he saw monkeys up in the trees. They were small sized and there were two of them. The human watched them as they knocked a vine down from an overhead limb, grab the vine, then they swung across to the other side and landed in the trees where they disappeared. The vine they used, swung back and hung over the edge of the chasm.

"Did you two see that?" Rita asked, referring to the monkeys.

"Yeah," Frederick replied. "I assume you have the same idea as me?"

Rita didn't answer. Isaac knew what the two of them were thinking and he didn't really like it. Frederick made his way toward that same vine the monkeys used to find it hanging over the chasm a little out of reach. He reached for it, but his hand came up short.

Frederick looked back at his two companions and commanded, "Rita hang on to me. Isaac, hang on to Rita."

They did what they were told. Rita held on to Frederick's hand tightly as he leaned over the chasm. Isaac did the same to Rita, knowing two lives were literally in his grasp. Frederick reached for the vine but he still wasn't out far enough. So he slowly leaned out further, leaving only one foot on the edge while his other hovered over a long fall. He just managed to snag the vine and Rita and Isaac heaved him back in. The vine was quite long. It hung from the limbs above all the way down into the chasm for a few yards.

Frederick held onto the vine with a tight grip, looking back at the two who was with him all the way. "Well, nice knowing you all if this doesn't go as planned."

Isaac nearly uttered a chuckle, "Hey, that's my job to say lines like that."

Frederick grinned then turned to face the chasm. He took a few steps back . . . then ran. Dirt kicked up in his footsteps as he jumped upwards, hanging on for dear life and wrapping his legs around the vine the best he could. A soft warm wind rustled through his hair and everything seemed silent around him. When Frederick touched down on the other side of the chasm, he threw the vine back towards the two humans on the other side. Rita caught it with the look she always gave when faced with a challenge of any sort.

"Looks fun." Rita gripped the vine and took a few steps back then followed Frederick's example. She soared through the air like a graceful bird in the sky. Her legs were out in front, ready to catch the ledge, when she heard something crack. Didn't sound all that loud and it couldn't have been the vine. When she landed on the other side, she passed the vine back to the awaiting jester, Isaac.

Isaac snagged the vine, breathed in, and took a few steps back, just like the other two did. The golden haired human breathed out, then ran for it. When he came near the edge, he lifted his legs and was airborne. But something was wrong. Isaac heard something above him crack making his eyes shift upwards. By the time he did, he heard a loud snap and the branch supported the vine gave way. Isaac felt his heart stop as he began falling down, but something else caught his arm. It hurt though, but whatever it was saved his life. He looked up to see a falling branch heading straight for him, then he was forcefully pulled up and over the ledge as the large branch fell into the chasm below. Isaac looked around him, seeing Frederick had somehow grabbed his arm before he fell to his doom and pulled him out of the slump he was in. Isaac realized he was holding his breath, so he let out a sigh of relief, nodding in appreciation.

"Thanks," Isaac slightly panted, slowly windmilling his arm Frederick grabbed. It hurt a little, but it wouldn't be a problem.

"Looks like we aren't going back that way," Rita gestured, noticing Isaac rubbing his arm. "You alright?"

Isaac nodded, "Yeah, I'll live." Isaac stood up straight to his feet without any trouble, hoping his heart rate would slow down now that the sudden action was over. "Where to now?"

"North right?" Rita guessed.

Frederick walked over to Isaac's back to retrieve the compass out of his bag. "I do believe so. Once we reach the coast it will be a straight shot to the desert. Since this jungle is uncharted, the map is pretty useless, so we won't be using it. Once we reach the end of the coast then we should end up at a desert. The same desert that we are looking for."

"So if you know it's there then why are we here?" Isaac pointlessly asked.

Rita answered, "Because we don't know for sure if it's the right desert."

"So how will we know if it's the right desert?"

Frederick nor Rita knew how to answer that one. They only thought about it. How would they know? The only thing the book said about the desert was that there was some kind of legend to it about jewels buried underground or some type of money. Looks as if the only way to find to desert is to see if the legend was true.

_City Square_

_6:55 P.M._

The square was big and decorated with colorful ribbons hanging onto buildings surrounding it and one big stage set up near the southern side. The stage was high enough fall everyone on the ground to see who was on it, right now there were cheetahs with musical instruments and there was something about the stage that was unique. A dome hung over it to amplify anyone's voice who stood under it to make it seem louder. It worked by using a series of echoes, which would bounce off the dome walls, and make the user's voice easily heard all over the square. Which was why the cheetah's kept quiet as they sat on their chairs with their instruments. Some had flutes, violins, acoustic wooden guitars, harps, even a piano.

On the other side of the square was where the games for toddlers were set up, along with many tables with several stalls which served food for anyone who wanted some. Best of all, it was all free. At least to a certain extent on the food. First meal was free, the rest you had to pay. This was to keep dragons from literally, eating them out of business. Already, the square seemed lively with dragons walking from stall to stall.

Cosmo felt like turning back as he saw the crowds of dragons that hung all around him. Crowds, something Cosmo never liked, especially being in the middle of them. He always felt lost and suffocated but every time he felt like that, he always looked over at Kali. She always seemed to make him feel better.

The two of them were near the dome stage, just looking around before the festival began. Everything seemed perfect.

"What are they?" Cosmo asked, regarding to the figures on stage, fiddling with their instruments.

"Those are the cheetah's. They live in the Valley of Avalar and I guess they came to play some music." Kali looked up at what instruments they brought along and saw one she didn't recognize. "Hmm, never seem that before. Must be new."

"What?" Cosmo asked, trying to spot what she was looking at.

"That big wooden thing over toward the right. Come on, let's go ask them what it is."

Kali was already walking toward the dome when Cosmo spotted what she was talking about. The yellow dragon caught back up to Kali as she made it to the stage and climbed the stairs on the left side, followed by Cosmo. When they made it to the top, Kali couldn't help but looking out off the stage and into the crowd of dragons that were on and about their business, not even noticing the two dragons on stage.

"So this is what it's like to be on stage," Kali quietly remarked.

"More or less," Cosmo replied.

"Can I help you?" Someone from behind them firmly asked.

The two dragons turned around to see a taller, thinner, looking cheetah standing there. He wore a thin black coat and his voice was quiet enough for the dome not to take its effect. The two dragons thought they should do the same.

Kali replied just loud enough for him to hear, "Yeah, we were wondering what that large wooden instrument that is in the corner over there."

Kali pointed with a paw and the cheetah knew what she was talking about. "Oh you mean the piano?"

The blue dragoness nodded, "Yeah, never heard of it."

"I have," Cosmo added.

The cheetah looked down at Cosmo with disbelief in his eye, "How could you have heard of it? It's a brand new instrument that-"

"Is there a problem here?"

The cheetah turned around to see a young white dragon behind him. The white dragon's scales were just pure white and the dragon was actually a dragoness. It almost looked like she had short eyelashes on her eyelids and her eyes was a green that seemed to light up in the dark. Her tan underbelly went with her four tan horns. Two horns curved back straight-wards and two more were right below them. They were way shorter though and were only just a few inches big. They also curved back toward her tail which ended in a pointed furry frill. There were a few spots on her scales that had that darker white tint to them and her darker tanned wings ended in short stubs. She was a bit smaller in size than Kali and Cosmo.

"No Yin everything is alright. These two were just asking me about the instrument you helped us build."

"The piano?" The white dragoness guessed but quickly continued. "Never mind that. Just go on about your business and I'll see what the two visitors want."

The cheetah slightly bowed, "Yes Yin." Afterwards the cheetah obeyed and went back to his place behind one of the three golden harps.

The white dragoness turned to face the two dragons she was responsible for, "Alright, your names?"

"I'm Kali," the blue dragoness answered. "And he's Cosmo. We just never seen a piano before."

"Oh I'm not worried about you Kali," Yin answered. She looked over at Cosmo, "It's you that I'm concerned about."

"Me?" Cosmo sounded a bit off his usual voice.

"Yes," Yin went. She eyed Cosmo with a steady eye. "How did you know about this piano?"

"I err . . .-" Cosmo was at a loss for words. He only nervously shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, lucky guess?"

Yin rolled her eyes, "Well, no matter at this point anyways. Soon everyone will know about it."

"So do you have a part in the festival Yin?" Kali asked.

Yin sat down on the wooden flooring, "Why yes, I do."

Cosmo chuckled, "Really? So are you like, serving the food or something?"

Yin didn't show any sort of sign of amusement, "No. As a matter of fact, you're looking at the singer of your festival."

The joking side of Cosmo quickly disappeared, "Oh you're serious?"

Yin nodded, "Yes, I am serious."

Then whatever lights on the stage were beginning to dim shading the square in a dark shadow. The moon gave enough light for all the dragons to see where they were going so there was no problem there.

"Looks like we're starting," Yin said. "So if you will excuse me."

"By all means," Cosmo replied.

Yin looked over the yellow dragon again then made her leave toward the backstage. Immediately Kali and Cosmo went off stage and went to in front of the stage where some other dragons were already taking places for the show. The two dragons sat as close as they could for they wanted to see everything clearly. Cosmo and Kali looked at each other excitedly, waiting for everything to begin.

A few minutes seemed to pass as even more dragons took their places behind them. Commotion was going on all around the square about the festival, until a cheetah took his place on the front stage. He stood at the edge of the ledge and everyone went silent. Only thing Cosmo could hear was the singing of a cricket. Then someone nudged him on the shoulder.

Cosmo looked over to see a familiar red dragon.

"Torch?" Cosmo whispered.

"Hey Cosmo, good to see ya," he whispered back. Cosmo noticed Micha on the other side of him, seeing a smile that he saw in the market that day. Cosmo smiled back and turned his eyes toward the cheetah in front on stage.

"Hello and welcome to Warfang's Grand Festival," the cheetah announced. His voice seemed loud meaning the dome was working as it should. His voice echoed across the square letting everyone hear him clearly. "As you already know, we have some singing planned for tonight. Well, we also had a play planned but it seems as if someone is running late. So we will have to delay the play and move on with the singing. We hope you enjoy the festival."

The cheetah retreated from stage in a calm and fashionable manner and several more cheetah's appeared on stage and took their places behind their instruments. Cosmo eyed one as he sat down on a stool behind the piano and ready himself. Then he saw Yin. She took her place in front of everyone else on stage and she looked a little nervous. Cosmo noticed as Yin looked down at him.

The yellow dragon mouthed the words, "Don't worry, just do it," which somehow seemed to make Yin smile. She seemed to perk up and feel better as the band started playing.

The flutes began first, in sort of a medium pitched tune. Then a guitar began playing in a low melody. It sounded beautiful. Then Yin began singing.

_This is the darkest night_

_Stars have all faded away_

_Quiet upon this world_

Her voice sounded, different when she sung. It was just a grand thing to hear. It sounded as if the piano joined in on the song.

_Through the clouds there is a light_

_We will find our way_

The band got more livelier and it seemed as if there were a few backup singers near the back. But Cosmo couldn't tell if it was cheetahs or dragons. Instead he just listened to the song.

_I would die for you_

_Cross the sky for you_

_I will send out a light burning for you alone_

_ Yin's_ beautiful singing voice was heard over everything else.

_You're all I need_

_To set me free_

_And this fire will guide you_

_Home_

Someone else seemed to sing this part of the song. A male. It could have been a cheetah but Cosmo couldn't picture a cheetah having a voice like that.

_There is an open door_

_Somehow it feels so familiar_

_We have been here before_

_Through this old forgotten fight_

_There must be a way_

The whole choir seemed to join in on the chorus. Cosmo could hear some dragons behind him singing the chorus as well.

_I would die for you_

_Cross the sky for you_

_I will send out a light burning for you alone_

Yin's voice came up over the choir.

_You're all I need_

_To set me free_

_And this fire will guide you_

_Home_

_Where our hearts will be open_

_Where our promise; unbroken_

The song continued and Cosmo enjoyed every second of it. It was all so great, so perfect, and Yin was doing an excellent job. Pretty soon, everyone in the choir was joining in on the song. It rounded around the chorus for a few so Cosmo guessed it was getting near the end of the song. He thought about the words in it, somehow it made him think of Kali. Maybe because those words in the song were true. The more he thought about it, the more attached he became to the lyrics.

Suddenly everyone around him was cheering. It brought him back into the real world and realize that the song was over and Yin was bowing on stage with happiness in her face.

"Whoo that was great!" Torch exclaimed. "Wasn't that great Cosmo?"

"Yeah," he replied. "It sure was."

"How about you Micha?"

Micha smiled, "I loved it."

Cosmo looked over at Kali to hear her say, "I wouldn't mind hearing that again soon."

Micha and Torch looked by Cosmo at the blue dragoness. Cosmo noticed them and realized he had to do something. "Oh sorry you two. This is Kali."

"It's good to meet you," Micha said from her spot.

"Same," Torch added. "It's good to see you've got a mate Cosmo."

Cosmo didn't respond to that statement.


	39. All Tied Up

Chapter 39

All Tied Up

The purple dragon sat in the midst of a crowd with a happy black dragoness next to him. They made it to the festival just in time to see a white female dragon make her way on stage and sing one of the most beautiful songs he ever heard. It was quite the tranquil moment, especially since he would do those things for Cynder. But there was someone else with the two of them. Someone, even Cynder, was happy to see.

"That wasn't really interesting. I've heard better stuff."

Spyro looked at the golden dragonfly hovering beside him, who had his arms crossed. "I'm sure you have Sparx."

Sparx, who happened to make it to the festival a little earlier than Spyro, surprised his brother by a sudden visit out of nowhere. He heard about the festival from his parents, who heard it from Frederick, who was looking for some random desert. Crazy guy that was. Who wants to find a desert? Those dreadful places was one of the many locations you wanted to stay away from.

Spyro continued on, "So how long you staying?"

Sparx shrugged, "Meh, not for long. Just wanted to see how you two were getting along without me."

Cynder grinned, "Aw, were you worried about us Sparx?"

"Me? Worried? Please," Sparx trailed off for a moment. "If you thought that then you're a few scales short of a dragon."

"Whatever," Spyro rolled his eyes and the crowd around seemed to be thinner. He looked up stage and there didn't seem to be anything going on just yet. But he saw something else through the crowd in front of him. He would occasionally catch a spec of yellow as it moved in and out of the crowds. "Hey Cynder, do you remember Cosmo?"

"Of course," she harshly replied. "What makes you think I forgot about him?"

"I think I see him," Spyro said, trying to peer through the crowds. "I'll go see to make sure."

"See who?" Sparx inquired, looking around himself for someone that looked familiar. "I see Volteer in the back."

"Nice to know he's here, but Cosmo is yellow."

"So is Volteer," Sparx replied.

"Cosmo has blue wings and a gray belly," Cynder added. "See anyone like that Sparx?"

Sparx increased his hover flight a bit to get a better view over the crowd, "Yes . . . no wait yeah. I mean yes. I see a yellow dragon toward the front. He's yellow and has blue wings. I don't know about the gray belly though." Spyro and Cynder were about to head in that direction but Sparx kept talking to them, "I see another yellow dragon toward the right and another one near him. There's a yellow dragon to my right and-"

"Alright we get it. So there's a lot of them," Spyro obviously indicated with a slow willing tone. "Let's just find him. He has to be around here somewhere. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't miss something like this."

The two dragons slowly made their way toward the first yellow dragon Sparx spotted, diverting the crowd in the process. The dragons noticed he was the purple dragon and most of them gave their respect by moving aside. Others, either didn't notice him or didn't care to notice him and stayed in their places. But it was easy getting to the yellow dragon.

"Hey Cosmo," Spyro called out over the crowds commotion and placed a paw on his shoulder to get his attention. The yellow dragon turned but something wasn't right.

"Can I help you?" The dragon asked in a nice sort of way. Spyro noticed that this dragon had blue wings and yellow scales but this dragon's belly was red. It wasn't who he was looking for.

"Sorry," Spyro apologized, putting his free paw back down on the squared stone tiled ground beneath him. "I thought you were someone else."

"Ah," the dragon chuckled. "It happens. Have a nice night."

"You too," Spyro replied and continued his search, still followed by the glowing dragonfly that was hard to miss and the black yet charming dragoness. At least in Spyro's eyes. He always thought of Cynder as striking ever since he saved her during his first game err . . . quest. The quest where he first learned what he was and saved the four elemental guardians from their graves.

"So where's the next yellow dragon Sparx?" Cynder asked.

"I see another one up ahead, at the front," Sparx began. He scratched his head then continued. "So why are we hunting this yellow dragon for anyways? I don't seem to recall him helping us when we were in trouble at the swamp. Or that time in that other swamp where those weird looking pirates was with that tree mumbo jumbo . . . you know the place. Or when we were-"

"Okay!" Cynder nearly outboasted. "We get the point."

Sparx looked down at the dragoness, "Oh you do? So can you tell me why-"

"He's a friend we met about a month ago," Spyro interrupted, annoyed by the question.

"Thank you," Sparx added. "Not so hard now was it?"

The trio made their way through the remainder of the crowd, who happily let the purple dragon through. Some of them gave a quick greeting of 'hello' as they passed by, hoping for a response. Spyro only gave a quick one as well as Cynder. Some dragons didn't entirely seem to trust her because of her past, but her recent actions changed more than most of their minds. Very few dragons flinched at her presence but still wore a smile. It was like they were happy to see her but didn't have enough faith in her. What was she lacking that Spyro seemed to possess?

When they finally managed to make it to the next dragon whom they presumed was Cosmo, something else caught Sparx's eye. He spotted some black dragon rounding the corner of the stage. Probably one of those dragons that helped out backstage. It wasn't his business anyways so he left it as that.

"Hey! It's good to see ya!"

Sparx turned his attention below him to see Spyro chatting with the yellow dragon they were looking for. He lowered himself to Spyro's side to introduce himself. He knew it was going to happen, better to go ahead and get it over with.

"Sparx," Spyro began. "This is Cosmo." He turned to a blue dragoness that closely stood beside him. "Her name is Kali. Kali, Cosmo, this is Sparx."

"A talking dragonfly," Cosmo stared in wonder. "Never thought I would see the day."

"That makes two of us," Sparx replied.

Cosmo's look changed to one of uncertainty. Spyro smiled as he noticed, "Don't mind him. Even I don't understand him at some points."

"I can see why," Kali reacted. "Oh hey, there's two others we want you two to meet." Kali looked behind her, "Hey, come here real quick."

Two dragons came around Kali. The red dragon was the first to speak, "Oh, you must be Spyro right?"

"And you are Cynder?" The pink one added.

Both, Spyro and Cynder, nodded. Then the purple one spoke, "Yeah, seems you know us. So who are you?"

"I'm Micha."

"And I'm Torch."

"Friends of him?" Sparx pointed at Cosmo.

Spyro began to show a mild titter. "Sorry. This is Sparx. He's . . . how do I say this . . . a companion of mine ever since we were born."

"You hesitated," Sparx went. "Why did you hesitate? We're best buds, two peas in a pod, and you want to hesitate about it."

"Oh I see," Micha went in comprehension. "Kind of funny and-"

"Whoa what was that?" Cosmo asked.

"What? What was what?" Sparx looked around then shrugged.

"I heard something," Cosmo said. Although the crowd around them weren't making it easy to listen. "I don't know what but it was coming from backstage."

"I didn't hear anything," Sparx replied.

"It sounded like something was-" Cosmo began but was cut off by the same noise he heard earlier. Only this time is was louder.

"Someone help me!" A voice screamed out. Almost immediately the crowd's conversations ceased and their attention snapped to the stage.

"What was that?" Someone from behind asked.

"C'mon!" Kali nearly exclaimed. She grabbed Cosmo's paw and was going to drag him if he didn't do what she said. "Someone's in trouble!"

"If that's what it is then I'm right behind you," Spyro grinned.

"Action?" Sparx went as six dragons ran toward the stage. "But I didn't come here for that." Regardless of that, Sparx still followed the group up the stairs and on the stage.

"Help!"

This only made the dragons move faster on stage. Dodging chairs and musical instruments as they turned right to see a type of corridor which clearly led backstage.

"We'll wait out here just in case that blasted criminal tries to make a run for it!"

Spyro turned to see a larger dark green dragon standing right at the edge of the stage. Spyro nodded, "Alright, thanks!"

The group made their way through the small corridor and the first thing they saw was a white dragon on the ground, struggling underneath a black dragon. The cheetah's that were with her were now lifeless bodies, tossed to the side. There were only four cheetahs, Spyro guessed that whoever this was must have taken them by stealth. He didn't think about it much as they got the black dragon's attention as all of them entered.

The room they were in was mainly filled with supplies. Brooms, metal buckets, and other cleaning materials. The room was about as long as the stage and around twenty meters wide.

But the black dragon was struggling. Something was on his back, something small and furry.

"Isis!" Cosmo yelled.

The cat had her claws dug deep in the dragon's scales, only causing the black dragon to get angry with her. The dark dragon swung his body around while keeping his prey in check. But swinging just wasn't enough, Isis had her claws locked in tight. The black dragon made himself stand to his two back legs while trying to reach Isis with his two free paws.

"Run!" Isis yelled at the white dragon as she swiped the dragon's back with her claws. This was clearly to distract him even more for her scratch didn't seem to effect him in any way other than scuffing the dragon's scales. The black dragon finally became fed up with the cat and violently shook his back while heading for the nearest wall.

The white dragon, who was getting up and running toward Cosmo, was clearly Yin. Why she was being attacked, Cosmo didn't know. But now that Yin was out of the way, he could help Isis without the risk of accidentally hurting one less being.

The black dragon noticed Cosmo heading for him but was already at the nearest wall. The dragon literally had to scrape Isis off his back, using the wall to his advantage. Isis finally let go and made a run for it as Cosmo readied himself to breathe an element. He opened his mouth as the black dragon recuperated, and let out an attack. He didn't care what element it was but the enemy was going to attack if he didn't. But it definitely wasn't what Cosmo was thinking.

The smoke of the shadow element left Cosmo's maul and covered the black dragon to the point where no one could see him any more. Cosmo was confused just as much as Isis was, who still stood toward the side ready to help in any way she could. What was going on?

"Cosmo knows how to use the shadow element?" Spyro asked. "Since when?"

"Since now," Kali answered.

The clouds of darkness lingered for a few seconds before they dissipated into the cold air. The black dragon was still there, still as still can be. He was just sitting there, motionless, until Cosmo charged after him. The black dragon's eyes shot open to reveal his red eyes underneath, making Cosmo stop in his tracks just inches away from him.

"You! What are you doing here Phantom?" Cosmo backed off in case he tried something funny.

Phantom ignored that question, "So I see you've busy. Learning new things are we?"

"Why would you even care? Why were you after Yin?"

Phantom snorted, "It doesn't concern you right now. So if I can't get want I want then I'll take my leave."

Phantom acted so quickly that it was nearly a motion blur. Phantom blew fire through his nostrils and let out a strong hot flame. The flame traveled toward Cosmo but it wasn't exactly accurate. The flames missed him, giving Cosmo a perfect opportunity to attack. A lightening bolt left Cosmo's maul and struck Phantom, making his flames completely useless. Phantom shook a moment before collapsing toward the ground. He quickly recovered and showed a devious smile.

"I wouldn't worry about me," Phantom regarded.

Cosmo growled but smelled something odd. He turned around to see a sight that made him angrier than before. Phantom's flames wasn't meant for him, but for the curtains than hung behind him. The red curtains were burning and the flames were quickly spreading. If it wasn't stopped, the whole dome could collapse.

"He's getting away!" Kali yelled as Phantom ran straight toward her. Kali went to use her shadow against him, but for some odd reason she couldn't. She exhaled but only air came out.

Spyro, Cynder, Torch, and Micha still used their elements before he escaped, careful not to hurt anyone else but Phantom. That black dragon has already done too much and had to punished.

Fire, electricity, and poison all headed straight for Phantom as one complete attack. Phantom blurred to the side and every attack seemed to miss. Kali still wasn't done, she wasn't going to let this liar get away for what he done to her. As Phantom approached, she leaped for him, claws stretched out. Phantom knew that getting out wasn't going to be easy so he was expecting something like this. But he was too close when she attacked to even attempt to dodge. So the two of them tumbled toward the wooden flooring. Wait, wooden?

Cosmo's attention was on the fire that was spreading. The wooden flooring was being burned up and let the fire continue to spread. Now it was traveling on the ground. If the dragons didn't hurry up then they all would be in a barbeque. The special yellow dragon and his cat companion looked around for anything that could be used to stop the fire. Heavy blankets, maybe even a bucket with some water, but he found nothing worth useful. That is, until Cosmo noticed Kali.

Kali clawed at Phantom's face but was being held back by his paws. She desperately wanted to hurt him but everything she tried just wasn't enough. Phantom eventually managed to kick her in the stomach making her collapse to the side in pain, giving the dragon a perfect chance to escape. When Phantom began his run, something caught him by the wings. He looked to see his right wing in the grip of a red dragon's paw. He flapped them but Torch held on tight. Then a pink dragon appeared out of nowhere with strong rope. That was the last thing he saw before something hit him on the back of the head, slipping him into unconsciousness. Phantom slumped to the floor and Micha went to work with the rope.

But the danger wasn't gone yet. There was still a fire to take of.

"We have to put this out," Spyro said.

"Naw duh," Sparx replied. "But how?"

Spyro brainstormed a second, "Torch, go outside and tell the crowd of what happened and that we need some help in putting this fire out."

Torch was about to obey but Yin cut him off, "No need boys. I can take of this."

Spyro eyed the white dragon, wondering what she was up to. The white dragon quickly walked past the dragons and stopped a few feet away from the fire. A few seconds passed, then Yin shot out a continuous water stream from her mouth. She aimed toward the flooring first, easily putting it out, then went for the curtains. The curtain was already ruined. It was burning into ash that made your lungs feel like iron if stayed in it for too long.

"Water?" Torch said in a marvelous sort of way.

It didn't take long for Yin to put the fire out. Once she did, a soaked yellow dragon and black cat came walking forward. They walked around the black wood flooring and made their way back toward the exit.

"You could have warned us," Isis stated, shaking her whole body, trying to dry herself the best she could.

"Yeah no kidding," Cosmo agreed, wiping water off his face. "Thanks though." But for some reason Yin seemed flabbergasted. He silence made Cosmo ask, "What's wrong? Was it something I said?"

"No," Yin managed. "It's something your cat said."

Cosmo cocked an eye, "She didn't say anything offending did she?"

"What your cat said!" Yin exclaimed. "Your cat said!"

"I don't get it," Cosmo went.

"That cat can talk?" Torch asked.

"Evidently," Micha answered. "So I'm not going crazy."

"Oh," Isis lowly said. "I forgot about the new company."

Torch smiled, "Hey talking cats are pretty cool."

Yin still seemed a bit over the edge, "I don't understand how you can talk."

"Well you don't have to understand it," Isis stated. "You just have to live with it." The black cat looked over at the unconscious Phantom that was bound up with rope on the floor. "So what are we going to do about him?"

Kali forcefully stepped in, "I say we drop him in the ocean and leave him there."

"Drown him? You'll become just as bad as he is Kali," Isis said.

"So what are we going to do with him?" Torch asked.

Cynder smiled, "I may have an idea."


	40. Six

Chapter 40

Six

When Phantom woke up, it was daylight. He squinted in the morning sun, trying to remember what happened. But something was strange. He felt his blood was in his head, making him lightheaded. Then he realized the reason why. He was hanging upside down on a pole, sticking out the side of a tall building. He must have been ten to fifteen stories high, just suspended in the air by mere rope. He tried to move but his limbs were also tied up and his wings had rope wrapped around his body. It wouldn't be a problem escaping. All he had to do was blow some fire on the rope and burn it.

His surroundings were mainly newly built buildings. The main street seemed to be a little ways away toward the west and the pole he was hanging from was attached to a building that looked like a clock tower. A cold morning breeze blew and there were a couple of clouds here and there in the skies.

Enough of sightseeing. Now he had to escape.

Phantom looked down at the ropes the best he could and let out a small stream of flame. Or tried to. Something was wrong. He couldn't use fire. The black dragon shook his head in disbelief and tried another element. Again, nothing.

"Not so easy to escape now is it?"

Phantom looked around himself the best he could and managed to get himself facing toward the voice. On a concrete ledge on the clock tower stood a blue dragon.

"Kali," Phantom growled. He tried using an element again, this time on Kali, but nothing happened. He roared at Kali in anger.

"Look who has the upper hand now you twit." Kali bravely made her way closer to Phantom by using the pole he was tied to. She walked across it with ease, the pole seemed to be a lot stiffer than Phantom thought. She stopped just where his rope was tied and sat down, perfectly balanced. It was quite amazing. She continued her little chat, "You see, before you woke up, Volteer gave me a little something to inject you with."

"Mesmeron," Phantom sighed. Mesmeron was a thick, greenish liquid that, if swallowed, would stop a dragon from using elements for at least four hours. Mesmeron was only used on criminals and could only be obtained through guardians or high guards. You would also need a good and valid reason of why you needed it. Most of the time you would have to sign a small document stating that you have mesmeron as well, but Kali got lucky and managed to slip by the signing. "You gonna kill me now?"

Kali smiled, "It would be nice. You killed my brother, threatened me more than once, attacked my friend, lied straight to my face, and nearly ruined a good festival. You do deserve it."

"So why am I still here?" Phantom asked in an aggressive tone.

"Because I want answers," Kali said.

Phantom chuckled, "You won't here nothing from me. You might as well go ahead and kill me."

Kali ignored him. "I want to know more about Cosmo. You seem to know something about him that I don't. So start talking. How could he use the shadow element last night?"

Phantom stayed silent, hoping his lightheadedness would kill him instead.

Kali grabbed the rope and violently shook it, making Phantom dance around in the air. "Tell me! I know you know the answer!"

Phantom snorted, "Then I'll shall take the answer to my grave."

"Why are you being so stubborn!" Kali yelled out. She nearly lost her balance for a moment but expanded her wings to keep her balance.

"Careful there," Phantom deviously chuckled. "You almost slipped."

"Please," Kali implored. "Please tell me."

A low, cold breeze blew through the air, making Kali fold her wings back into place to avoid being carried off. A few chirping birds flew in the air above the two dragons and the sound of civilization was barely audible in the distance.

Then Phantom finally spoke, "Well, since you said please." A few moments passed until he continued. "You know about the six? They were ancient and powerful dragons in the past. One of them gave birth to a child, a child that was said to become powerful and was said to have saved the planet from extinction. As stories go, so do their rumors. Some dragons today say that they have seen these large dragons, appearing and disappearing out of thin air. These large dragons are the spirit guardians, or the six."

"What does all this have to do with Cosmo?" Kali asked.

Phantom continued, "The six are long dead but their spirits still remain. Their child was a very special dragon, even more rare than the purple dragon. He knew every element their was, knew how to successfully combine them, and had the ability to change his very own color." Phantom paused then continued, "That child has been reborn . . . here . . . in this very city. Because of this, your so called leader thinks that something is going to happen to this planet. You have no idea how right he is. Something will indeed happen to this planet, but it won't happen any time soon."

"Well all of that is good to know but how is Cosmo involved in all of this?"

"I've already told you enough, why can't you just go ahead and kill me?"

Kali deeply sighed in aggravation, "I want to know on how Cosmo is involved in all of this."

Phantom grinned, "You'll just have to ask someone else."

Then Kali heard something snap from under her. She looked down to see a bound up Phantom, falling all the way down to the ground below.

"No!" Kali yelled out, refusing to look all the way down. She did not want to see how the insides of a dragon looked like. Instead she examined the rope for just a quick second. From what she was able to make out, it was somehow cut with something sharp. Claws maybe? She was so close to the answer she wanted, now it was gone.

_Minutes Earlier_

At the base of the clock tower stood six dragons. Spyro, Cynder, Torch, Micha, Cosmo, and Yin. All of them wondered the same thing, what was Kali going to do and why did she want to go alone? Sparx, on the other hand, went back to the swamp saying something about his karma and promised Spyro that he was going to be back soon.

Grouped up in front of the tower entrance, their surroundings were basically buildings, both tall and small, along with the occasional plant or mushroom on the side of the street. The street went both ways around the clock tower and rejoined into one complete street again on the other side. In front of the tower entrance was also a large treigh filled with plants, obviously for decoration.

The tower owner didn't approve of hanging a dragon on the side of his structure to begin with, but after a lot of haggling and explaining he finally let them be.

"What's taking so long?" Cosmo repeatedly asked. He seemed to be the only one pacing.

"Take it easy," Yin suggested, tired of seeing him so worried. "You're gonna make a trail if you keep on like that."

"She's right Cosmo," Cynder agreed. "You need to calm down. Just take some deep breathes."

"Alright," Cosmo stopped in his tracks and did what he was told to do. "Breathe in, breathe out." He let in some air, held it in for a moment, then exhaled.

Suddenly the group heard a crashing noise around the corner. It sounded like something colliding against a wooden market stall and it sounded as if something big had absolutely destroyed it. It made the group just about all say at once, "What was that?"

Spyro looked at Cynder, "Let's check it out. Whatever that was didn't sound good."

The group unitedly made their way around the tower in a fast pace. When Spyro rounded the corner, his hunch was right. There was some sort of stall that was luckily unmanned and abandoned due to age. Or what was left of it. It was mainly rubble now as parts of it littered the edge of the street. Looked like something bombed it from above.

"How did that happen?" Torch wondered out loud.

Spyro made his way over to the debris, looking for anything that had something to do with the destruction. Near the middle of it all, the only thing he managed to find was a few strands of rope. He looked up to where Phantom was supposed to be hanging to find out that he wasn't there. He only spotted a blue dragoness, perfectly balanced at the end of the sturdy pole before jumping off of it like a diving board. She fell down a couple of meters before opening her wings to slow her fall.

"What was it?" Cosmo asked, trying to investigate the matter himself.

Spyro stepped aside for Cosmo to see, "Just some rope."

"Rope?" Micha repeated. "Rope couldn't do this."

"I know," Spyro modestly replied. He watched Kali land a few feet away from all the debris but he could see her getting ready to say something.

"I'm sorry," Kali apologized. "Phantom killed himself. I think he cut his own rope."

"I'm not so sure about that Kali," Cynder gestured. "The only thing we found was the rope."

"What?" the blue dragoness admonished. "You're kidding?"

"I don't kid around in situations like this," Spyro seriously responded. He one of the rope strands to Kali which landed in front of her. She looked at it, already knowing that it purpose was to contain Phantom.

Yin spoke out in a discouraged tone, "Are you saying by some miraculous chance, Phantom survived something like that? Even if he did, how did he disappear so fast?"

"Guess that explains the name," Torch replied.

Everyone went quiet for a few seconds for they were too busy looking around for any unusual activity. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary which was bad news. Phantom made an escape. But how?

"Did he say anything important to you?" Cosmo asked Kali.

Kali frowned, "Not what I wanted to hear. He only talked about some ancient story about the six spirit guardians having a son that could change colors."

Spyro and Cynder traded plain looks when they heard about that. However they stayed quiet as Shivertail would have wanted them to do. He strictly told them that they could not tell anyone about Star, but the spirit guardians son that could change colors reminded them of Star.

"That's it?" Cosmo looked a bit disappointed. "He didn't say why he attacked Yin?"

Kali slightly shook her head, "Sorry."

Cosmo sighed, "Well, he's still out there. Somewhere." He turned to Yin. "Yin, have you ever seen Phantom before he attacked you?"

The white dragon shook her head, "No, never seen him before in my life."

"Wait," Torch interrupted. "If Phantom is still alive, won't he attack Yin again? He was clearly after something and I have no doubt in my mind that he would attack her again."

"_Like he did me_," Cosmo thought then said. "True, Yin where do you live?"

Yin looked the other way, "Well . . . I live in the cheetah's village in the Valley."

"The cheetah's village?" Spyro repeated, surprised at the answer. He made his way off the rubble and to Cynder's side. "For how long?"

"Well I uh-" Yin began then trailed off. She put together a few things in her head and continued, "Ever since I was little pretty much. They found me in the woods and they took me in."

"I don't recall cheetah's liking dragon's very much back then," Spyro pointed out.

"Well they sort of took me in because they . . . needed a good guard to help protect the village."

Spyro was about to say something else but was grabbed on the arm by Cynder. She forcefully drug him out down the street, leaving the clueless Yin behind to wonder what they were up to.

Once they were out of earshot, Cynder began. "What are you doing?"

"Cynder . . . she's lying. Remember when we first arrived at the cheetah village? They knocked us out and imprisoned us there. She said she was raised there right? So why wasn't she there when the village was attacked that day?"

"Maybe she was out picking herbs or something?" Cynder suggested.

"No, Meadow was picking herbs. If she was missing, we would have heard about it."

"So what you are saying is that Yin hasn't really lived there for as long as she said she has and she is hiding something?" Cynder summed up.

Spyro's eyes turned to the white dragon in the group, "That's is what I'm saying."

Cynder shrugged, "So what are we supposed to do about that? You can't just call her a liar in front of everyone. If she wants to keep her secret then let her."

Spyro made an aggravated sigh, "Fine fine. But there's a reason on why Phantom is after her. And while I'm at it, why did Kali want to see Phantom alone?"

"Spyro, enough of your conspiracy theories. If she doesn't want to tell us why then there must be a reason. If Cosmo trusts her then I do."

"But Cosmo can act just as strange. He knows four elements for crying out loud. He even used the shadow element last night and as far as I know, no one has taught him something like that."

Cynder seemed unstirred by the news. "You may be right but like I said earlier, secrets are meant to be kept to yourself."

Spyro looked back at Cynder in the eyes, "But Cynder, I . . . don't know what to say."

"Then I'll say it for you. You're feeling left out aren't you?"

Spyro took a moment to make an unnoticeable nod, "Yeah, sort of. I feel there's something going on and I can't do anything to help."

"Spyro, we have a secret of our own."

"And what is that?"

Cynder smiled, "Our secret is Star. Remember him? It seems as though you've forgotten about him."

"No," Spyro went. "I haven't. You're right Cynder. I should just let it all go."

_Meanwhile_

_Beyond the thick uncharted jungle_

Frederick, Isaac, and Rita managed to make it through the jungle unharmed. Rita was missing a few arrows but they were all just fine. The reason for the missing arrows was that the trio ran into some more of those obstacles Rita spoke of. A wild wolf attacked them which made Frederick unsheathe their swords, but Rita took care of it with her arrows. Another mammal attacked later on, this time it was a black bear around their size if it stood up. Again, Rita took it down with arrows with a little help of Isaac and Frederick this time.

The trio was now on the coast. The small ocean waves crashed onto the tan beach sand and the jungle still lingered toward their left. Seashells, palm trees, water, and the occasional seagull here and there was all they saw during their whole trip. The weather was fair with a warm wind breezing every now and then. Every once in a while a cloud would block the sun, giving the humans a comfortable shade to walk in. But every time the sun came back to shine, Isaac would say the same thing.

"Dang sun." Isaac muttered.

"Yeah yeah we know about it," Rita replied like she heard it a thousand times. "But cursing the sun to go away would only make things worse."

"How so?" Isaac asked, just to pass the time.

"Well, let's say the soon suddenly went out. Pretty soon, this planet would undergo an ice age. It would also be so dark that we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces."

"But the moon provides an excellent light source at night," Isaac indicated.

"Ah that's what can get most people." Isaac could almost here her chuckling on the inside. "You see, the moon doesn't emit it's own light. It actually reflects the sun's light and makes it look bright. You know sometimes the moon may seem more bright one night than it did the night before? Well that's because the moon is reflecting less light. What I'm saying is that if the sun was gone, then we wouldn't even be able to see our moon."

"Gah, you and your intelligence."

"Well you would know things like this but you are just an idiot. You should seriously try reading a book one of these days."

Frederick showed a grin that he couldn't hold back. It was conversations like this that made him more than happy that he was out in the wilderness, searching for some historic desert. He wouldn't mind sitting in a room a watching the two of them talk the whole day.

"But books are boring," Isaac complained. "I could never read a whole book."

"What if you were actually in a book. Would you read it then?" Rita smiled.

"Well yeah," he replied.

"And why?"

Isaac sighed because he knew that she knew the answer already, "Because of snow cones and reindeer hopping down the sandy hills."

"What?" Frederick joined in. "You know what, you can be real random sometimes."

"No seriously," Isaac said. "If there was snow cones and reindeer hopping down sandy hills, I would definitely read about it. And if I'm in it then that would make it twice as interesting."

Frederick rolled his eyes, "You are unbelievable."

The three of them continued down the coast for a little while longer with Isaac hoping for another cloud to give him shade from the sun. As the morning progressed, so did the temperature which made Isaac complain even more about the sun. The scenery always stayed the same, the ocean to the right and the jungle to the left. The jungle seemed a bit thinned up now but it was still a jungle

Every now and then, Rita would pick up a rock or seashell just to look at it and past the time, then throw it in the ocean as far as she could. Isaac thought of it as some sort of a challenge and began picking up rocks and seashells of his own and began throwing them the furthest he could get them. Before Frederick knew it, both of them would constantly lean over to pick up some type of projectile just to toss it into the ocean.

As Isaac went to launch a medium sized seashell, the trio heard some kind of a loud roar coming from the jungle to the left. The humans stopped in their footsteps and snapped their attention toward the general direction of the roar. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was coming in their direction.

"What was that?" Isaac sternly asked, putting his hand on the hilt of his shortsword.

"Don't know," Frederick replied. "But you better be ready for anything."


	41. The Lesser Intelligent Dragons

Chapter 41

The Lesser Intelligent Dragons

Spyro bowed his head, "Sorry Yin."

Yin looked at the purple dragon with a little confusion in her face, "For what?"

"For asking you all those things," he simply replied.

"Oh," Yin frowned. "It's alright Spyro. Really. It's not a big deal."

"So do you forgive me?"

Yin nodded with a smile, "Of course I do. Why would I be mad? If I asked you where you were born would you get mad at me for it?"

Spyro shook his head with a small showing grin, "No, I guess I wouldn't." Then Spyro changed the subject to a more serious matter, "So what are going to do now?"

"What do you mean?" Yin asked, not seeing where he was going with it.

"Well, Phantom is after you and all so I was just wondering what you were going to do."

"Don't worry about that," the white dragon assured. "I'll be in the cheetah village, which is guarded by fifty cheetah's. I'll just report the dragon to the chief and he'll keep an eye out for him."

"Well alright. Just be careful on your way back."

Yin smiled, "Thanks but I'm not planning to go back right now. The Valley may be beautiful but it can get tiring after a while. Kind of like an ocean cruise you know?"

"Cruise?" Spyro repeated.

"Like a cruise in the sky?" Torch added in. "I'm not sure I follow either."

Cosmo looked at the white dragon for a moment, then something clicked in his head. Something he should have seen before.

Yin uncomfortably forced a mild laugh, "Well it's a . . . singer's thing, you wouldn't understand."

"Oh really," Spyro chuckled. "I understand."

"Yin," Cosmo began. His tone of voice didn't sound very enthusiastic. It sounded like something was on his mind. "Do you mind if I see you in private for a moment?"

Yin eyed the yellow dragon next to her, trying to figure out what he wanted. "I guess so."

Cosmo still shown a plain look as he led Yin around the corner of the clock tower and onto the other side where no one could see them. Cosmo stopped, looked around, then turned back to Yin, satisfied that they were alone and there were no eavesdroppers.

"So what is it . . . err . . . Cosmo right? Hey thanks for the help last night." Yin struggled to remember the name.

"You're welcome," Cosmo replied, showing a bit more emotion in his voice. "Listen, this may sound crazy but I'm going to ask you a very serious question that we must keep to ourselves no matter what. Alright?"

Yin looked unsure on what he was getting at, "Erm . . . okay? What is it? Was it something I said?"

Cosmo shook his head then continued, "Yin . . . are you . . . a human?"

Cosmo watched Yin's eyes grow quite surprised at the question. "What makes you ask that?"

"My first clue was the piano from last night. The one the cheetah said you built."

"Well I love music," Yin innocently replied. "I always did."

Cosmo continued, "You mentioned a cruise earlier. You meant a ship cruise to a Caribbean didn't you?"

"Wait, how would you know that?"

Cosmo grinned, "Because I'm just like you Yin. I used to be a human as well."

"What? You?" Yin rubbed the top of her head. "So I'm not the only one."

"So you used to be a human?"

Yin nodded, "Yes. But I don't know how it happened."

"Neither did I," Cosmo comforted. "I woke up in the woods one day to find myself talking to another dragon. It was frightening at first but I gradually got used to it."

"When did this all happen?" Yin asked.

Cosmo thought back for a few seconds, "I would guess around a month and a half." Silence lasted a moment before Cosmo continued, "So what's your story?"

Yin somewhat shook her head uneasily, "I . . . don't know."

"Hey," Cosmo put a paw on her shoulder. "You can trust me."

It wasn't that Yin didn't have enough trust in Cosmo. He did help her out without hesitation when Phantom attacked her and he did come out and tell her the truth about himself. The truth that very few living beings know about. His honesty won her trust. It was just that all of this was new to her. She never met someone who was just like her. Waking up to live an entirely different life as a dragon wasn't exactly what she dreamed of. However it did make her life a whole new exotic sort of experience.

Yin carefully looked up at the dragon in front of her and showed a smile Cosmo was waiting to see, "Of course I trust you." The white dragon shifted positions as she happily shared her story. Happy because she was finally able to tell the truth to someone. "It all started about a month ago. I woke up near this gorgeous waterfall, wondering how I ended up there. It was then that I found myself changed into this dragon you see now. Now I didn't believe in mystical creatures such as dragons, or other realms for that matter, but all of that changed that day. I started walking in a random direction and made my way through some forest called the Enchanted Forest. It was there that I came across a cheetah. The cheetah asked what I was doing so deep in the forest so I told him that I was lost. I never told him that I was supposed to be a human because I deeply knew that he wouldn't believe me. So I just left it at that. He escorted me to his village and their chief asked me a few questions. One of them asked me if I had a place to live and I said no. So they took me in, as long as I helped guard their village. Three weeks past and I never saw another dragon until one showed up at our front door. I was a bit shocked to see another dragon, but glad at the same time. The dragon handed me a flier and told me to deliver it to the chief. The flier was about the festival last night, except this one had a request attached to it. The request was asking the cheetah's to perform in some sort of musical. Now I used to be a music freak so I knew a lot about music, but when they asked me to actually sing I grew very nervous for I never performed on stage before."

"Well you did very well last night," Cosmo complimented. "I suppose you helped build the piano to help out the musical?"

"Well . . . yeah of course. It took a few struggles but we managed to build it and I taught one of the cheetah's how to play it. When it was showtime, we went to this dragon city where we performed. I was quite astounded when I saw all of these other dragons waiting to hear me sing."

"I think I can piece the rest up," Cosmo interrupted to give Yin a break. "Thanks for telling me."

"And thank you as well. I feel a lot better knowing there is another like me." Yin went quiet so Cosmo had the thought that she was finished. He was about to say something but Yin continued, "Are there others like us out there? I mean, do you know if there are any?"

Cosmo grinned, knowing that this could rattle her brain a bit, "Yeah, there is another like us."

"Who?"

"Do you remember that talking cat?"

"What?" Yin nearly exclaimed out of skepticism. "That cat used to be a human?" 

"Well, she used to be a dragon who used to be a human."

"How on earth is she a cat?"

"Well, it's sort of a long story. Mind if I tell you later?"

A full two seconds passed before Yin replied, "No, it'll be fine I suppose."

Cosmo showed a friendly smile then changed the subject, "So do you plan on going back?"

Yin looked a bit lost on what they were talking about, "Going back?"

"Going back to the valley," Cosmo finished.

Yin shook her head side to side a quick second, "I don't really know. Being with cheetah's for a month can get rather . . . how do you say it . . . boring I guess."

"Well I don't know if this helps but . . . there are inns in the city that you could stay in if you want to get away from the village."

"Yeah but I don't have any money," Yin replied. "I'm flat broke, I don't even know what dragon's use as money. That's how far I'm behind."

"Gems. Dragons use gems as money. But I do see you dilemma. Maybe Spyro will know what to do."

"Who?"

"The purple dragon. Wow you really need to catch up huh?"

Yin uttered a stout giggle, "Yeah, I guess so don't I?"

"You sure do," Cosmo warmly replied. "I'll fill you in on all the details. But we probably need to be getting back to the others."

Cosmo and Yin made their way back around the tower, hoping that the others wouldn't have gotten too suspicious on why they were gone. It didn't seem like it when they rounded the corner, everyone was grouped up, chatting about something without a care in the world. The only one that noticed their return was Kali, who eventually pointed out that they were back.

"So what took you so long?" Spyro asked.

"We were attacked by flesh eating plants and snowmen." Cosmo was clearly using sarcasm here. It usually worked for getting out of questions like these.

"Very funny," Spyro replied, faking a laugh. "Humorous."

"Spyro," Cosmo began, sounding more solemn than before. "As you all know, Yin's been living in the village for a-" Cosmo was about to say a month but stopped himself and continued, "A good while now and she wanted to stay in the city. But she doesn't have any money."

"Really?" Spyro went, sounding unenthusiastic about it. He acted differently though, "Well don't worry Yin. I'll talk to Volteer and see if you can get paid for what you did last night. We all enjoyed the song you sung so maybe we can have that chance to repay you."

Cosmo turned to Yin and showed a 'I told you so' look. "Just be sure to tell the chief that you're moving into the city."

"I just hope he won't take it too hard," Yin replied, feeling golden at the moment.

"Don't worry," Cynder added. "He won't."

_Coastline_

That roar. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was coming toward their direction. The humans didn't know what it was, only that it sounded dangerous. They could just hear it coming toward them from the jungle trees to their left. As it drew closer, Isaac's hand on the hilt of his sword tightened, somehow feeling more than ready for whatever this creature was.

That roar. There it was again. It sounded louder, meaning it was closer. Frederick partly unsheathed his claymore from his back and Rita already had her bow out and an arrow nocked in place. They were all ready for this new obstacle that challenged them.

Then the creature finally showed itself. It ran in the jungle, heading toward their direction, and it looked quite large. But there was something else out there. Frederick could see a couple of beasts out there, coming toward them. This was going to be rough.

The first creature emerged from the trees and onto the beachy tan sands. But this creature had a good resemblance to a dragon. It was indeed large, just as Frederick had thought. It had a tail, four legs with claws on the paws, a semi short neck and snout. The only thing that was missing was the horns. It had to be a dragon for it looked so close like one, but it didn't have horns.

This dragon had pale blue scales, gray wings, and a tail-fin. It looked kind of like a fish tail, except larger. The pale blue dragon had a darker blue belly and his eyes were a perfect green. This dragon looked as large as the Chronicler himself, making him about four times bigger than Frederick. This was really going to be rough.

The dragon ran and noticed the humans then stopped in his tracks. The dragon lowered his head and made a deep sounding growl to strike fear into the humans. Frederick and Isaac unsheathed their swords, seeing that this dragon wasn't friendly.

"Who are you?" Isaac yelled out.

But the dragon didn't answer. He was about to pounce but another roar came in from behind him. The dragon snorted as he turned around to face a group of brown bears, who were charging at a high speed toward the dragon. The dragon turned his eyes toward the humans behind them, then ignored them as he pounced on one of the bears. There were five of them in total. Frederick watched as the dragon easily tore the first bear up into bits, biting and using his claws to an advantage. The bear didn't stand a chance.

But that only gave the other bears a chance to circle around him and latch onto the dragon's back, making the dragon utter a cry of pain. The bear scratched and mauled on the dragon's back, leaving a bloody mark that stung when the wind blew on it. The dragon twisted his body, trying to shake the bear off, but the bear wouldn't let go of his prey.

"We have to help him!" Rita cried. She pulled back an arrow and began to aim.

"Help him?" Isaac dumbfoundedly asked. "Didn't you see that look he gave us?"

"Just don't miss," Frederick ordered, ignoring Isaac.

Rita showed a grin, "I don't miss." Then she let the arrow fly.

The bear on the dragon's back still mauled on the dragon, until something stabbed him in the spine. The bear twitched, then his claws let the dragon's back go, letting the bear fall onto the sands. The bear struggled to get up but Frederick was already there to finished him off with his claymore with with a thrust through it's chest. The bear roared then went motionless.

Another bear's roar made Frederick realize that the danger wasn't gone yet. He turned to see a bear, ready to swipe him off the face of the planet. But the bear roared again, this time in pain, as he fell over onto the sands. Isaac stood on the other side of it, holding a bloody sword.

The dragon was too busy to notice their heroic deeds for he was busy with the other two bears in front of him. The dragon swung his paw, all of which seemed a bit small for his size, at the closest bear. The bear tried to run but the swing was too quick and the dragon had the bear pinned to the ground. The bear roared as the dragon increased his weight on that one paw, slowly crushing the life out of the bear. Frederick ran around the dragon just in time to hear it's bones get crushed, as life left it's eyes. He looked up at the dragon's eyes and could see that he meant business.

A bear's roar snapped him out of it, making him realize that the other bear was about to attack the dragon. The bear leaped for the dragon's leg, making the dragon growl in annoyance. Frederick sprinted toward that bear, with a bloodied up claymore in both his hands, and roared at the bear himself.

The startled bear turned just in time for Frederick to swing his longsword across the bear's neck, cleanly slitting his throat. If it had been any deeper, the bear's head would have came off.

The final brown bear fell lifeless toward the hot sands, giving the humans a moment to rejuvenate. The dragon turned the best he could toward the humans, despite his injuries, and looked as if he was studying the humans.

Frederick only prayed that this dragon was friendly. The dragon's sheer size was enough to give Frederick more than a second thought of attacking.

The pale blue dragon looked at all three humans, then noticed that Isaac and Rita had their weapons out and ready. This made the dragon feel uneasy, making him lower his head and show his teeth as he let out the same growl as before. Step by step, the dragon made it's way closer toward the two human's.

"Put your weapons away!" Frederick commanded.

"Are you crazy!" Isaac exclaimed out of fear. "This thing is going to kill us!"

"Just do it!" Frederick replied, putting his claymore down onto the dirt below him. "He may be friendly if you put down your weapons!"

Rita silently obeyed as she unocked her arrow, put it in the quiver on her back, then set her bow down on the sand. "Isaac! Do it! You know we can't fight this thing!"

Isaac grunted then finally obeyed as they dragon was still growling right in front of him. He threw his shortsword down onto the ground, then looked up at the dragon, ready to meet his fate. As soon as his sword hit the dirt, the dragon quit growling. He raised his head and looked around himself, at the three humans that surrounded him.

"So . . . are you friendly?" Isaac asked the dragon.

The dragon snorted in response. He still remained silent.

"Do you even talk?" Isaac went on.

The dragon still looked down at the golden haired human, and let out a moan.

"He's hurt," Rita reminded everyone as she remembered what the bear did to his back.

"And I don't think he can talk," Frederick indicated. "This may be one of the lesser intelligent dragons Aruto told me about."

The dragon looked at Frederick and gave him a low growl in response. He certainly didn't like being called dumb.

"Looks like he can understand you," Isaac smirked. "So what are we going to do about him?"

"We have to help him the best way we can," Frederick suggested. "Maybe this dragon can help us somehow."

"Sounds good," Rita replied.


	42. Jazz

Chapter 42

Jazz

"There," Rita said in satisfaction. "That should do it."

She stepped back to give her work a better view. The dragon that helped them out was slightly injured during the tussle so Rita used a few herbs on his wound. The reptile seemed content to know she did the best she could. The light-blue dragon looked out toward the ocean waves rolling in on the tan sands of the coastline as she checked the wound over one last time. If Frederick didn't know better, he would guess that the dragon was thinking about something. Maybe he was wondering why there were humans with him?

"Did the best I could," Rita continued. "Hope that's good enough for ya big guy."

The dragon looked down at Rita in response and looked her over with his eyes.

"So . . . he's not going to kill us?" Isaac doltishly asked.

"Kind of a stupid question," Frederick replied but couldn't hold back a grin. "I think he would have done it by now."

Isaac shrugged, "Well you never know. He could have just waited until Rita patched him up then he would attack. That would be the smart thing right?"

"I highly doubt that he was planning on that," Frederick modestly answered.

"Yeah yeah but speaking hypothetically, what if he did?"

Rita butted it on the question, "Then he would be attacking us now while we were paying no attention to him."

Isaac immediately turned his attention toward the dragon behind Rita. The dragon looked back at him without breaking eye contact, even for a quick blink. The dragon's green eyes made the golden haired swordsman shiver on the inside. "I'm still going to keep a close eye on him."

"I think he's keeping a close eye on you as well," Rita responded with a smile. She was watching the dragon's eyes. They never seemed to leave Isaac the whole time, as if Isaac was looking at himself in a mirror. "Besides, he seems pretty harmless to me." But the dead bears down the beach caught her eye, "Well harmless toward us."

"So what are we going to do with him then?" Isaac asked, as he went to put his hands on his hips. But the edge of his hands brushed the hilt of his shortsword making the dragon show teeth. Isaac stayed speechless and only lifted his hands up in response. "I was not going for my weapon! I swear!"

"Put a cork in your pie hole," Rita harshly replied. "You fussing at him isn't going to make things better between you two."

The dragon seemed to be calm again as soon as Isaac said that he meant no harm. Seemed like the dragon didn't entirely trust the humans at the moment, but that was understandable. Things like this would take time.

"He's right though," Frederick indicated. "What exactly are we going to do with him?"

"Let's give him a name," Rita replied. "Calling the dragon 'him' all the time is getting kind of redundant."

"How about Nuts?" Isaac sarcastically suggested. "Because that's what you are."

"Funny," Rita forcefully said. "Keep it up and you'll have a reason to fear our new friend."

"I'll just call him Frostwing for now," Frederick said, looking the dragon over.

"Frostwing?" Rita repeated. "His wings are gray."

Frederick shrugged, "Well what's gray?"

"The clouds," Isaac stated. "Let's call him Frostcloud."

The dragon snorted in response. None of the humans knew whether that meant he liked it or disapproved it. But Frederick answered for them, "Frostcloud doesn't really sound dragonish to me."

"Well don't look at me," Isaac looked over at Frederick, finally giving his attention to someone else. "Coming up with names really isn't my strong-point."

"What is?" Rita joked. "What about Wintero?"

"What?" Isaac chuckled. "That's hilarious."

Frederick sighed, "Let's face it, we're horrible at coming up with dragon names." He looked up at the dragon and asked, "Can you tell us your name?"

The dragon huffed and shook his head.

"What?" Rita went. "You don't have a name?"

Frederick looked back at the dragon and studied him for a moment. Pale blue scales, gray wings, and a dark blue belly. His tail resembled a fish tail and this dragon didn't show any sign of horns and he was clearly a male dragon. Aquamarine? No that wouldn't do. It sounded like a female name. He couldn't picture calling that dragon Aquamarine anyways. What about Fishtail? Frederick considered but shook it off. It just sounded weird.

"What about Icefire?" Frederick suggested.

"Icefire?" Rita replied as she looked up at the dragon. "Naw."

"Jeez this is tough," Frederick clapped his hand on his forehead. "You know what, we'll think about it as we walk."

Frederick began walking down the coastline. Began, but didn't succeed. The unnamed dragon walked in front of his line of sight making the human stop in his tracks.

"What does Jazz want now?" Isaac asked.

Frederick and Rita turned toward Isaac but Rita beat Frederick to it. "Jazz?"

"So what," Isaac replied. "I'm calling him Jazz."

"That's just weird," Frederick pointed out. He looked back at the dragon in front of him. "So what is it Jazz?"

"You're kidding?" Rita went in surprisal. "Are you seriously going to call him Jazz?"

"Better than calling the dragon him now is it?" Frederick gestured.

Rita groaned but it seemed to be ignored, "You know what? Whatever we'll call him Jazz for now. So what does he want?"

Frederick grinned then looked back at the dragon in front of him. Then dragon noticed he was the center of attention again so he began walking back toward the forest while looking back at the humans. When he reached a few feet away, he stopped in place and waited.

"You think he wants us to follow him?" Isaac asked, scratching his head.

"I believe you are right Isaac," Frederick praised. "Let's see what our new friend Jazz wants us to see."

_City of Warfang_

_2:53 P.M._

Everything turned out just fine for Yin. Just as she had hoped, Volteer was happy to help her out in her time of need as a repayment for her performance the night before. She was given a second floor room in a small inn called 'Lakeside Beauty'. Of course, the name would make you think that you would have a perfect view of a beautiful lake in the backyard. It was kind of true. On the balcony of Yin's room, a view of a small lake could be seen.

The location of the inn was on the outer edges of Warfang. There were no buildings behind the inn whatsoever giving Yin a perfect getaway from civilization when she needed it. But the lake itself was about fifty to seventy yards away and the white dragon didn't know if the lake was actually big enough to call it a lake. She didn't complain though.

There was a catch to everything though. The inn she was staying in was a receptionist short of being a hundred percent open. The building was new and when Yin took the job, the inn finally opened. Now that the inn was open, Yin was more than happy to work considering her circumstances. She needed gems for food after all. The owner of the inn was a nice being. He was a tan colored dragon and looked like he already went through his youth. He was twice as large as Yin but it didn't frighten her one bit. Volteer was bigger than him. The dragon called himself, Dradswendirt. Quite a mouthful so Yin just called him Drad. He didn't seem to mind.

The inn was more a bit long and contained a grand total of thirty rooms, both first and second floor. It kind of had that old fashion sense to it in Yin's eyes but this was, after all, that dragon world. The main room, where Yin would sit behind her counter and count the customers asking her for the keys that hung on the wall behind her, was kind of small in size. The wallpaper was brown but she could see some darker colored swirls here and there. Flowers maybe? The nearly stretched clean across the room with a small opening for her to get in and out at the end. The room contained a couple of waiting chairs just in case it was a busy day, some decorative items on scattered tables such as flowers and such, and a large window behind the counter beside Yin's seat. The window gave a clear view of the lake in the distance which would entice the customer into wanting a room. Or so Yin was told. Stairs were located in front of the counter at the end which actually led to the first floor rooms. The second floor rooms were above those. Kind of strange but Yin didn't really care.

At the moment, Yin was settling in her new room. It really amazed Yin on how much the dragon world resembled the human world. It was like she was trapped in between the two worlds as she tried to find a way out.

Her room was medium sized. It contained one bed, which was plenty big enough for her, a dresser and wardrobe, a table with two white wooden chairs set around it, two random paintings of some sites around Warfang, a small walk-in closet, some type of refrigerator, a trash can in the corner, and last but not least, the balcony. A glass door separated the room from the balcony but it was easily slid aside for her to enjoy a view. There were two chairs on the balcony as well, one of which Yin was sitting in. If Phantom was still after her then he was going to have a tough time finding her.

_Meanwhile_

Of course, Cosmo always kept his promises. In the lobby of the Lakeside Beauty, a familiar yellow dragon stood in front the counter that a tan colored dragon manned. Seemed like he was reading a book behind the desk and didn't even take notice of the blue winged dragon in front of him. Twice as small as the tan dragon, the dark gray bellied dragon showed no sort of fright. Why would he?

"Excuse me," Cosmo alarmed, getting the clerk's attention.

A few seconds passed until the gray eyed clerk looked up, "Oh, I'm sorry forgive my manners. My hearing isn't what it used to be."

"That's quite alright . . . err-."

The dragon smiled and happily introduced himself. "Dradswendirt."

"_Quite a mouthful_," Cosmo thought. "Cosmo."

"Ah, Cosmo. Yin has mentioned you along with some other friends of her's." Dradswendirt replied, marking his place in his book. He set the book to the side on the counter and continued. "That was very courteous of you."

"It's not really a big deal," Cosmo remarked. "Just helping a friend."

A few moments passed then the tan dragon answered back, "I can see that you're pretty riant to have allies to accompany you during your time period."

Cosmo looked at the old dragon unexpectedly, "Erm . . . thanks, I think."

"I can tell you're not from around here," Dradswendirt continued. "Those markings on your two upper legs for example."

Cosmo looked down at them as if he never noticed them before. They were just shaded diamonds etched onto his scales. He never thought of them having any sort of significance whatsoever. "What about them?"

The yellow scaled dragon expected an answer but Dradswendirt decided to change the subject, leaving Cosmo in the dark. "So that would be room 210 you are looking for. Stairs are on your right."

Cosmo looked out of instinct, "Thanks, but what about my markings is so special?"

"Nothing," Dradswendirt replied. "It's just a symbol."

"A symbol of what?"

Dradswendirt frowned, "Don't ask me, that's up to you to find out." And without another word, the dragon grabbed his book and continued his read. Cosmo managed to see the cover as he made his way toward the stairs. Didn't seem anything worth reading for all he saw was a pitch black cover. Might have been a design here and there but Cosmo was too far to tell.

The visitor made his way up a small flight of stairs then found himself on the second floor. Or so he thought. He walked down the hall, which had five doors on one side of the mildly decorated hall and another five on the other side. The wallpaper was much more better than the lobby. The wallpaper was decorated with ocean waves at the base, a coastline, and in the cloudy skies were a few seagulls flying in their spots. As Cosmo looked on the closest door, a painted number read '101'.

"_They must work these floors differently here._"

Cosmo turned around headed up the stairs to the top floor of the inn. He walked down the hall to see a black painted number on the closest door. It simply read, '201'. Satisfied, Cosmo made his way all the way down the hall to the last door on his right which read '210'. This must have been it, so Cosmo emphatically knocked on the door a couple of times, hoping for a response.

It didn't take long for the tainted green door to open. It was just as Cosmo had anticipated.

"Cosmo," Yin began. She stepped aside to let the visitor in her room while continuing. "Didn't think you would be here so early."

Cosmo stepped inside, which somehow had some sort new wood smell to it. He guessed the inn must have been recently finished or they were doing some refurbishments. Didn't much matter anyways. "Well I had some time to kill so I decided to give you a visit and see how you were getting along."

Yin closed the door and turned toward Cosmo, "Things are pretty good so far. Drad gave me a job as well so I'll be able to buy my own food from the market."

Cosmo stopped in front of the bed and rotated himself to face Yin, "Oh really? That's pretty impressive I suppose."

Yin made her way by Cosmo and sat herself down on the bed. "So why are you here exactly if you don't mind me asking. I mean I enjoy the company but something tells me you came here for a different reason."

Cosmo showed a sign of guiltiness in his face which Yin seemed to read like a book. "Straight to the point huh? Well alright. You told me your story earlier today so I told you that I would tell you my story when I got the chance."

"Then sit," Yin replied, padding a spot next to her on the bed. "You'll probably need it."

"Thanks," Cosmo conveyed, taking her up on the offer.

As soon as he sat down on the bed he began his story. He started out when he woke up in the woods and the silver dragoness Kaida found him. From the figure attacking them not once, but twice, all the way to the tornado disturbance. The dragon told Yin of how Kaida died during that freak of a storm along with all the damages it done, which seemed to explain a lot about all the construction sites around Warfang. It didn't take long for him to get to the part where he was attacked by Kali then captured after Kaida's funeral. He told her about him finding the talkative cat, Isis, and his escape from his prison. Yin seemed to understand every bit of it, even when he told her about Kali's dilemma of her long lost brother, Balkner. Cosmo continued on his story as he retold how he made his way through Velxtra Forest with the help of a cat that was actually a dragon which used to be a human. Just like Cosmo and Yin. Cosmo continued on how he learned four elements, then was strangely able to use the shadow element the other day. A fluke maybe? Yin seemed to be a bit confused by it as well but brushed it aside.

She didn't really know much about the elements, besides what the cheetah's told her. They told her there were thirteen elements. Fire, electricity, earth, ice, shadow, poison, wind, fear, water, plasma, madness, convexity, and light. There could have been more but she was never told of any such thing.

Pretty soon, Yin was caught up and Cosmo had fulfilled his promise.

"So that's your story? Seems pretty wild," Yin pointed. "I heard something about a tornado during that day. The winds were pretty strong at the village but it never hit us."

"Be glad then," Cosmo faintly replied. "Because that was day I always hoped to block out."

"So do you remember anything before you were turned into a dragon?" Yin questioned in wonder. "I remember my past life of how I grew up. Where were you from?"

"I lived in the United States, Arizona to be exact," Cosmo answered. "It was always hot there so I slowly grown used to it."

"Did you ever have like . . . a job?"

Cosmo frowned, "Well . . . where are you from and did you have a job?"

Yin grinned, "China. I worked in the line of music. That was how I knew how to build that piano you adored the other night."

"China huh? Your english is very good for you to be Chinese. I would have never guessed you were in China though. Your voice doesn't sound like it would be."

Yin bowed her head a quick second then looked back up at Cosmo, "Thank you, and my voice isn't the same as it used to be. We're dragons remember?"

"Ah yeah," Cosmo chuckled. His mood seemed a bit brighter as he continued, "So do you find the life of a dragon great or would you rather be back being a human?"

Yin thought about the question for a second before answering, "Well, it has been an exciting experience for me. Confusing, but exciting. What about you?"

Cosmo nodded without hesitation, "Doesn't it look like it? No war here."

"War huh?" Yin pushed on, hoping to get more from Cosmo. "Were you worried about the war back on our planet earth?"

Cosmo was silent for a good few seconds making Yin feel quite uncomfortable. Did she say something wrong? Did she bring back some bad memory into Cosmo's head? It looked like Cosmo was locked into his spot on the bed making Yin wonder what was going on inside of that head of his.

"Cosmo," Yin called out, shaking his shoulder. "Hey, snap out of it whatever it is."

_Meanwhile_

_Somewhere along the coastline_

Jazz. That name was pathetically hilarious. However it was what they were calling the dragon for right now. At least until they thought of something better which was bound to happen sooner or later. Or maybe it wouldn't.

Jazz was still leading the human group on the coastline making Isaac wonder why they were following the dragon. Didn't seem like there was any use but he kept his mouth shut the whole time. The dragon would occasional take a speedy glance backwards to see if the humans were still with him. Each time he did, he continued onwards down the coastline.

Ten to fifteen minutes passed until the dragon finally changed direction. He turned and headed straight for the forest trees to the left, which was a bit farther away than they were when they began their walk down the coast. It still didn't take them long for them to reach the treeline.

"Where are you taking us?" Frederick quietly remarked.


	43. The Roads Less Traveled

Toothless-721 I agree with you about the technology thing (the stove thing you mentioned). I know it's kind of hilarious but for me, it's hard to come up with substitutes. I recently have been reading back through my story from chapter 1 to this chapter to see how I have progressed. I laugh at my mistakes I made. I actually find it kind of funny on how many mistakes I missed by not proofreading like I'm supposed to. Let this be a lesson to all of you writers. If you don't proofread, there are going to be mistakes.

Chapter 43

The Roads Less Traveled

There were some roads that, under any circumstances, did not want to travel down. However, Yin unintentionally made Cosmo do just that. But the white dragon didn't know why this was happening to Cosmo, she was just curious on his past life. It seemed like Cosmo was too far into his memories to hear his new found friend trying her best to bring him back to reality. But it was far too late for that, now it was up to Cosmo to escape his memories and bring himself back to his body.

War. War was what triggered it. The mere talk of it brought some horrible memories that was supposedly blocked out for good. It was one reason why Cosmo knew some things about hand to hand combat when Kali attempted to murder him the first time they met.

Steven. Cosmo. They both belonged to the same living being. The yellow dragon just sat on the bed, being shook on the shoulder by his friend.

"Cosmo!" Yin yelled.

Cosmo. The name rung a bell. But who did it belong to? The dragon's name was Steven. He was a private. Private Steven served in the United States Marines.

_Flashback_

_Middle East_

_33 21' N 44 25 E?_

"Where's that fire support!" A nearby marine yelled.

Steven held his M16 firmly and took aim from behind his cover. He looked down the sights at the enemy and pulled the trigger without hesitation. His gun had some kick as it fired the bullets that hit the enemy's chest, making fresh blood seep out onto the man's burgundy uniform.

The trenches were quite a dangerous place if you weren't careful. Steven and a few other marines were inside some sort of building built on top of the trenches. It was almost like an empty shack other than a thin table with a radio on top of it along with a pair of binoculars. The trenches circled all around the shack and continued in down the battlefield.

As soon as the scorching sun rose into the sky, Steven heard gunfire going off nearby. It was then that he realized that their area was breached by the enemy. So Steven took cover inside the nearby shack which was where he is now.

"Reloadin'!" Steven heard from down in the trench. He poked his head up long enough to take aim with his M16 and pulled the trigger at a charging enemy, wanting to take the marines life as he switched mags. But Steven stopped him in his tracks as a few bullets sprayed into his chest.

"Steven!"

Steven turned around to see another marine heading in his direction. It was his buddy Harris. They known each other for quite some time now and learned to trust each other during tough situations like these.

Harris was equipped with a M16 as well as a shotgun attached onto his back. A few grenades hung on his belt and he had a small arms pistol on his side.

"Harris!" Steven began but was cut off by a few bullets whizzing over his head.

"Steven we're about to be flanked!" Harris warned, diving for cover beside Steven.

"Just grand," Steven grunted. He reached for his side a grabbed a little present for Harris. "Here, take these."

Harris looked back at Steven to see him offering two claymores. "Claymores? Where did you get these?"

"Doesn't matter," Steven harshly replied. A few more bullets flew over their heads making Steven growl in response. He lifted his M16 over his cover and peeked over the edge. He spotted the human who had his attention on him then was immediately forced to bring his head back down into cover as the enemy fired his weapon at him. "Gah! Set the claymores in front the door! I'll cover you!"

Harris nodded and accepted the two claymores from Steven's grasp. Steven continued talking, "Alright on the count of three. One . . . two . . .-" Steven exhaled deeply one last time, "Three!"

As soon as he said the magic number, Harris took off running toward the door, claymores in his grasp. Steven jumped up to his feet, twirled around to face the enemy, and opened fired. The sudden attack caught the enemy off guard long enough for Steven to shoot him until he was dead. The marine turned his weapon towards the trench to see his fellow marine from earlier, still pinned down.

Steven was about to yell out to the marine to move it while he could, but he noticed something else that caught his eye out in the fields beyond the trenches. But he couldn't quite make it out, so he turned to the binoculars on the nearby table. Steven creeped over toward the table while keeping his eye on Harris, who was setting up the last claymore a few feet behind the other one in the corridor. Steven snagged the binoculars and made his way back toward the window and peeked over just good enough for him to see what was out there.

"How's it looking?" Harris asked as he took Steven's M16 to reload it for him. Steven handed him a magazine without even making eye contact, silently appreciating the help.

"Not good," Steven replied. "Enemy tanks."

"How many?" Harris sighed in frustration. He handed Steven's M16 back over and made sure his own was loaded and ready to go.

A few seconds passed until Harris heard, "Eight. But that's not all. I see some enemy reinforcements right behind them."

"Je-" Harris began but was cut off by a nearby explosion. The sudden explosion came from the doorway in front the two marines. The explosion was followed by a man screaming at his blown off leg.

"They're here," Steven obviously indicated. He eyed the radio on the tabletop, knowing that something had to be done soon before they would be overrun. "Keep an eye on the doorway," Steven calmly instructed.

"What are you doing?" Harris wondered aloud, keeping his eyes on the corridor with his M16 in hand.

Steven crept over to the table and quickly grabbed the radio off the table before carefully making his way back to Harris's side. The radio was actually a bit large and weight three to five pounds. It looked like an old oversized cellphone with that military print on it.

Steven held a button on the side of the radio with his thumb and talked into the radio with a desperate voice. "This is Private Steven of the U.S. Army is anybody out there? We're under attack, I repeat, we are under attack."

The sound of gunfire echoed across the battlefield as Steven awaited an answer through the radio. Then his eyes hit the doorway in front of him as an enemy began to make his way through it. He quickly aimed his weapon at the two marines but failed to notice the second claymore planted on the ground. Steven blinked and the claymore went off, blowing the man's two legs out from under him. Steven could see the bone, blood, and tissue falling out of the man's legs as he fell to the ground lifeless.

Then the radio came to life, "Private Steven this is Commander T. Asmeth of the U.S. Base 181. Say again son?"

Steven clicked the button without hesitation and replied, "We're under attack and we need some men over here! Enemy reinforcements along with heavy armor are already on their way to our position! We're at Base 165! Over!"

Commander Asmeth sighed, "Alright private. We'll send reinforcements as soon as we can. In the mean time I'll send over a few birds to help. Over. "

Steven was about to reply but was cut off by gunfire by Harris. Harris fired his M16 at the doorway, killing another enemy who hoped to wipe their faces off the map.

"What's the ETA on those birds Commander!" Steven unintentionally yelled into the radio.

"ETA, eight minutes. Over and out."

As soon as Steven heard the news, he dropped the radio onto the ground beside him and took his aim at the doorway himself. He heard some chatter just outside the door, then two small objects flew into the shack.

"Grenades!" Harris exclaimed. "Get out of here!"

Steven and Harris unitedly stood to their feet as the grenades landed right in front of them. But Steven had another plan. He picked up one of the grenades and tossed it back into the open corridor. The grenade flew in a short arch and landed in the sands just on the outside of the doorway. Wait, there were two grenades, not one.

Steven frantically looked around for it but couldn't find it. Where was it? Steven looked back at the doorway just in time to see another grenade fly into the doorway. It seemed as Harris had followed his example as he watched the two grenades explode just as Harris's grenade landed. Steven heard screams in return.

The private had the urge to back around toward the tanks in the field behind them to see something he didn't want to see. One of the tanks was aiming right at their shack.

"Harris! We gotta get out of here!" Steven proclaimed, running toward the door.

"Wha-"

But it was too late. Steven barely heard the tank shell become a projectile as it hit the shack they were in spot on target. Steven dove just in time and barely escaped the explosion, but Harris wasn't so lucky.

The private coughed up dust and dirt as he looked behind him at the destroyed shack. "Harris!"

Steven saw the destruction and knew there was no way of surviving the blast. Then something else caught his guard. Enemy troops were coming up from the trench to look for survivors making Steven reach for his M16. But he realized it wasn't there. Where was it? The private looked around but didn't see it anywhere, so he was forced to reach for his pistol on his side. He unholstered the weapon and pointed it at the nearest enemy, who noticed his actions and began to take aim himself.

And then everything went dark.

The airstrike, courtesy of Steven and Harris, came over the battlefield and bombed the tanks, destroying them in seconds. The reinforcements came and eventually triumphed. But Commander T. Asmeth never found Steven.

It pained the commander to do it, but he labeled Private Steven as MIA, or missing in action.

_End Flashback_

Cosmo. Yes. It was all coming back to him now. Cosmo the dragon. The memories of the past month was coming back and the lost dragon was finally coming back to his senses.

"Cosmo?"

The yellow dragon shook his head, escaping his prison he had been in for the past few minutes. He was being shook on the shoulder as he came back to reality. Yin certainly wanted him back.

"Yin?" Cosmo finally said, rubbing his eyes.

Yin grinned and stopped with the shaking on the shoulder, "Finally! Welcome back to the land of the living!"

"Ah man," Cosmo began with a deep sigh. He was still glad to be out of that trance though. "Sorry about that."

"What happened to you?"

Cosmo shook his head, "Let's just say I went down the wrong road."

"Was it something I said?" Yin asked with concern. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Cosmo comforted. "You see, I used to be in the army when I was a human. I was in the thick of a all out battle-"

"No," Yin interrupted. "Don't tell me. It's better if you leave that behind yourself."

Cosmo frowned at first, but smiled right afterwards, "You're right."

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo wasn't the only one letting go of past memories. Spyro was on the couch in Cynder's home, hoping for a comfortable nap. A nap that actually left him tossing and turning.

_One Month Ago_

_Battle Against the Humans_

_Warfang 6:32 A.M._

He just had to find her. Wherever she was, Spyro hoped she was safe. He was looking for Cynder while having to fight off humans wherever he seen them to help in the dragon's cause. The purple dragon squinted as he made his way down a street with the morning sun glaring down on it. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he saw another small battle going on in the street. Spyro grumbled in frustration as he made his way over to assist them.

As Spyro drew close, a human noticed his appearance and made it known to his fellow warriors. It didn't take long for four humans to disperse from the battle to face off against the purple dragon. Spyro growled at the very sight of them but they didn't even flinch. Instead, they spread out so Spyro couldn't keep an eye on all of them at the same time while showing off their swords to the dragon. Two humans slowly made their way to Spyro's sides, one on one side, one on the other. The remaining two humans remained in front of the reptile with impish grins on their faces.

Spyro found it disgusting and decided to attack with an ice breath on a human in front of him. The human grunted as he jumped to the side to avoid the attack, making the purple dragon's attack useless. It also gave the other two humans on Spyro's sides a chance to attack. But Spyro heard it coming and had to jump back to avoid being sliced by both of the human's weapons. The fourth humans came up from behind his comrades to assist in the matter as well, giving Spyro the perfect chance to attack.

Instead of ice, Spyro used electricity. The bolts of lightening struck fast and arced from one human to another. It was lucky that they were all close enough to each other to cause a chain reaction, giving Spyro a four in one deal.

Electricity flowed through the four humans as they shook violently in their spots. One of the humans couldn't hold his sword and dropped it onto the cement below him as Spyro continued letting the electricity fly. It didn't take long for Spyro to realize that the humans were no more. So he gave his electricity a rest and watched the human's exanimate bodies fall to the ground.

Satisfied, Spyro moved on ahead to the actual battle that loomed in front of him. But a sizeable light blue crystal looking dragon caught Spyro's eye. That dragon was using ice to his advantage, freezing any human around him solid. A moment later, he would whack him with his tail and broke the enemy into pieces. So Spyro followed his idea.

Spyro came up from behind and caught an enemy by surprise with his ice breath. The human tried to turn to attack the new threat, but his movements slowed to the point of stopping. Then the purple dragon would attack with his claws, finishing off the abominable threat. He continued using the process to his advantage. He would freeze an enemy then would either finish him off or a fellow dragon would do it for him if he got the chance. It seemed to work for the time being, especially since Spyro hadn't run into any more of those soldiers with the enchanted armor. Now those were a pain.

As Spyro moved in closer and closer into the territory, he noticed the large light blue dragon from before. But he knew who it was now. It was Cyril. He should have seen it before.

A nearby soldier took advantage of Spyro's situation and slung his sword at him. Spyro threw his head down just in time for the sword to miss, then countered by charging the human in the gut. The human must have been wearing light armor because Spyro's horns unexpectedly went clean through the enemy's armor, giving the human two large puncture wounds in the chest. Spyro violently shook the human off his horns as another human tried to attack. But Spyro couldn't get his horns free so he used the human as shield the best he could. Spyro pushed the human back enough for his comrade to incidentally stab him in the chest. As the human pulled his sword free of the now dead corpse, Spyro had the chance to get his horns free as well. The dragon looked up at the soldier and unleashed his ice breath just as the human swung his sword in a horizontal slice. The ice slowed his movements until the frozen sword hung inches away from Spyro's eyes. With the soldier now frozen, Spyro pushed him over. The frozen statue fell backwards and collided against the cement, shattering him into pieces.

How much more was there? Spyro didn't know how much more he could handle.

"Spyro!"

Spyro turned to see the someone of whom he was looking for. The black dragoness he was worried about. "Cynder!"

Cynder made her way to Spyro as two humans eyed the purple dragon. Spyro turned his attention toward them as Cynder made her way to Spyro's rear. Back to back, or tail to tail, Spyro and Cynder covered each other with attainment. If a human tried to flank Spyro, Cynder was there to take him out with her shadow fire or poison. Whichever one she preferred, it always seemed to take care of the problem. Spyro used his ice to slow down his enemy's movements, or whenever they were close together he would use his electricity. One by one, the soldiers fell. It didn't take long for the humans to fall, especially since Cyril was here with the dragons.

As the last human fell to Cyril ice, the dragons almost erupted into a cheer of victory. But it wasn't over yet. There were still many sites that were under attack. Spyro and Cynder looked over at Cyril, who grinned and gave them a slight nod of satisfaction. A job well done.

But it was far from over. Everyone knew that fire against ice was mad. So why did Cyril have to be so reckless?

Spyro remembered the moment as if it were just yesterday. But this was his dreams. Yet, his dreams somehow skipped ahead to the part of Cyril's fate. It was almost like his dream wanted the purple dragon to suffer.

Cyril had ran over to help assist in another battle down the street along with Spyro and Cynder. Everything seemed to be going well. A few dragons did die but the humans were having a tough time trying to survive against the dragons. When it seemed as if it were about to be another victory. That was when he appeared. When he appeared, then everything went wrong.

Magicians. Spyro disliked them so very much. But there was something familiar about this one. He looked like the same exact magician that attacked him and Isis a while back. Maybe that was because it was.

It all happened so fast. Cyril attacked the magician with his ice, but the magician only showed an monstrous grin and disappeared out of thin air. He had already done this to Spyro, which was how he was knocked out by him. He still wondered what happened to that black fur dragon Isis.

Cyril looked around himself for the magician only to have him reappear in the most obvious place. Right behind him. As soon as the magician appeared, Cyril felt it. The guardian turned around to attack, but the magician had an attack already ready. Fire.

"You will die!" the human threatened.

The magician blew a flamethrower out of the palms of his hands at the ice guardian. Cyril quickly discharged an ice blast to avoid the flames while Spyro and Cynder ran over to assist. As soon as the two dragons were in range, they attacked with their elements. Cynder lobbed poison as Spyro shot an earth missile at the despicable enemy. But it was too late. The flames were already breaking through Cyril's ice and the ice guardian was taking damage by the intense flames. But it seemed like the magician was willing to sacrifice himself to take down a guardian, which was what he did. Cynder's poison collided against the magician as well as Spyro's elemental missile. The poison burned and the missile sent the human flying, making him tumble across the street like a ragdoll. But the two dragons paid no attention to the fate of the magician as their attention was on Cyril.

The ice guardian was constantly coughing up smoke as he fell to the ground. If things wasn't worse, three enemy archers showed themselves from atop the surrounding buildings. They all nocked their arrows in as quick as a flash, a fired without warning. They nocked in other set of arrows and managed to get set the arrows fly before Spyro fired a few earth missiles at the them, hitting three of them with three quick aimed shots. But the arrows never hit them.

"Spyro!" Cynder gasped.

Spyro turned and didn't like what he saw. Those arrows weren't meant for them, they were meant for the ice guardian. "No no no no no!" Spyro stuttered, not wanting to believe what he was seeing. Arrows were stuck in the ice guardian. Things weren't looking too well at this point.

Spyro and Cynder ran over to Cyril, not wanting to believe their eyes. But Cyril was still breathing. But it wouldn't last long.

"Spyro," Cyril coughed. Blood seeped from where the arrows were stuck in him. "Cynder." It took a few moments for him to continue. "You need . . . to protect the city."

"But Cyril I-" Spyro began, sounding very sorrowful.

"You can," Cyril encouraged in a slow manner. "You and Cynder both. You can both . . . save the city. You both have done well." Cyril showed a smile the best he could, "I am proud of you two."

And just like that, Cyril was gone.

_Present Time_

Spyro woke up to find himself a little bit hot and on the verge of sweating. He sat up on the couch, rubbed the cold out of his eyes, and staggeringly made his way toward the front door for some fresh and cool air. Did the humans attack the city to find Star? If they did then they were a bit early weren't they? Or maybe they were intentionally after the elemental guardians? Cyril, Terrador, both of them died that fateful day.

He didn't know why he memories were coming back to haunt him in his dreams. The only thing he wanted to do was block them out and it hasn't looked like he had made much progress. Just like Cosmo, this was the road he didn't want to go down. This was his road less traveled.


	44. Glow Cavern

Toothless – Well your welcome. It was no problem.

Enjoy the chapter and again, thanks for the feedback.

Chapter 44

Glow Cavern

Trees, trees, and even more trees. That was all the three humans were seeing the past hour. This dragon Jazz was supposedly taking his new found individuals somewhere in this forest. Maybe he was taking them where he lived? But Jazz made the humans guess at his silent work. Little did they know about this place that the pale blue dragon was taking them.

Isaac, of course, felt a little insecure by everyone's silence. This forest was empty in it's own way. No, it wasn't because the tree's leaves were beginning to fall due to the upcoming season nor was it the breeze that seemed to be asleep at the time. It was because of the wildlife. Frederick thought that there would be plenty of wildlife in the area but to his surprise, the closest thing there was to wildlife was insects and the occasional bird. It was quite strange to begin with but when Frederick thought about it, he figured he was getting close to Jazz's home. The forest was also becoming quite hot for some reason. Maybe that was why Jazz liked it here?

It didn't take long for the humans to see some sort of clearing up ahead. They thought that was where they were headed but Jazz took a right instead of heading straight. They couldn't help but wonder what was in that particular sort of direction. But they had to follow the dragon at the moment. There would be time to explore later.

A few more minutes passed until the group came across something in this tropical sort of trees. It was indeed, unexpected and the dragon seemed to be heading straight for it. It was looking like this was the dragon's home. It was some sort of a natural formed cave entrance. A large boulder seemed to jut out of the ground with a large opening in it, which was the entryway into the underground cave.

That was where the dragon went. He headed straight for the cave then stopped only inches away from the entrance just to look back at his acquaintances. The reptile waited for them to catch back up while showing what looked like a grin. Isaac slowed down a moment as he noticed the dragon's grin, thinking he was up to no good. No one else either noticed or didn't have the same idea as the golden haired swordsman. But in the end, Isaac forgot about the whole idea and continued on.

"I guess we're going in?" Isaac inquired to no one in particular.

Nobody answered in response. They figured they didn't have to for he only answered his own question. That was if it even was a question.

Satisfied, the dragon turned back around and headed into the mouth of the cave. The humans followed him inside, assuming that this was his home.

The faint sunlight entered the cave a slight bit, but enough to illuminate most of the it. It was actually kind of small to begin with, but Frederick noticed something else that caught his eye. There was another corridor toward his left that seemed to head on down into the depths of the planet itself. The dragon seemed to be heading in that direction so the humans went ahead behind him, silently wondering what was down there.

But the question remained to be seen. As they made their way down the incline, total darkness consumed them. None of them said a word. It was as if the main event was yet to begin.

The humans only followed the sound of the dragon's footsteps, echoing off the cavern walls. Using their ears and carefully making their steps, the humans felt the decline come to a halt. Then Isaac found himself squinting around the dark cavern. There was a faint light, well, everywhere. It was as if the rock wall was showing off a small glowing light.

Before anyone could ask, the dragon let out a large flow of fire out into the cavern, lighting it up. The flames were intense and everyone could feel its heat in the chilly cavern. The cavern seemed to glitter in response to Jazz's flames just as the dragon brought his flames to a shivery halt. Then the humans set their eyes on something that was just simply amazing.

_Meanwhile_

Was there others like him? That was what was going through Cosmo's mind. Other than Yin and Isis, were there others just like him? Not to mention Dradswendirt's strange behavior when he visited Yin earlier. The symbols on Cosmo's two front legs. How were they special and what exactly did they signify? Many questions that were yet to be answered.

Phantom. He attacked Yin and basically tried to kill Cosmo. It was obvious that the black reptile was attacking certain dragons. Dragons that used to be humans?

He thought back in time as he laid back on the couch in his home in front of the lit fireplace. He was attempting to recollect those moments with Phantom, but something else popped up into his head. Something he completely forgot about. Spyro and Cynder's egg. Where did it go? He hadn't heard from that in quite a while. He wondered what happened to it, trying to imagine of how those two were getting along with each other with their egg. If the special yellow scaled dragon was recalling it correctly, he remembered Spyro and Cynder explaining of how they found it.

Cosmo chuckled to himself, "_It fell from the sky. Kind of ridiculous. Maybe I'll pass the time and give them a visit and see how they are doing._"

Cosmo sat back up in the couch, listening to the fire crackle and watched Isis sleep in her little round bed beside it. He pondered for a moment of whether he should go visit those two heroes, or just lie back in laziness.

"Hey Cosmo."

The reptile looked over to where the whisper came from. Kali was peeking her head out of her bedroom, obviously the one who done it.

Kali continued, "Can you give Isis a bath?"

Then Cosmo's decision was final. "Actually I was about to go give Spyro and Cynder a visit. I kind of need to ask them something about a certain-", his voice trailed off, sounding like his idea wasn't going to work at all.

"Oh," Kali went, sounding disappointed. "Well maybe some other time then. Don't stay out too late."

And like that, Kali disappeared back into her room. Cosmo looked over at Isis, silently shook his head with relief, and made his way for the door.

_A few minutes later . . ._

When there was a knock on the door, Cynder was the one who answered it. Spyro seemed to be asleep on the couch at the time seeming as content as ever. She thought she was going to have to wake him up from his slumber at one point. It looked like he was having some sort of a rough dream, but now he seemed at peace.

The black dragoness stopped for a moment to recollect her thoughts and finally opened the door to reveal a yellow scaly reptile, in which she so happily smiled to.

"Cosmo!" Cynder jubilantly greeted.

"Cynder!" Cosmo sportively mimicked. "Hi! How you doing?"

"Dandy!" Cynder continued in the same excited tone. "What brings you here?" She stepped to the side to let her sociable guest inside.

Cosmo cheerfully made his way inside, "Stuff!"

"What kind of stuff?" Cynder replied, still copying the same tone from before as she closed the door.

"Just stuff!" Cosmo playfully agitated. His loud tone on voice went down to the slumbrous level as he noticed the purple dragon, somehow still asleep after all the racket. "Oh, sorry."

"Don't be," Cynder smiled, noticing on what he was apologizing for. "He's out like a firefly."

"A firefly?" Cosmo repeated. He only let the matter go and went on with another, "Anyways, just wondering how you two have been getting along."

"Well we've been getting along just fine. It's been kind of boring now that things seem like their settling down for the time being but I feel like that it won't last long."

Cosmo raised an eye, "What makes you say that?"

Cynder shrugged, "I don't know yet, but it seems like every time things start to settle down then something happens. First it was those humans that attacked the city, then it was the tornado, afterwards it was that black dragon at the festival."

Cosmo noticed that she never mentioned the egg. So he did it for her, "What about the egg you and Spyro had?"

Cynder looked the dragon over, remembering that Cosmo caught them with the egg some time ago. She nearly forgotten about it. "Oh that? Well . . . it's . . . not here."

"Not here?" Cosmo went. "What happened to it?"

The black dragoness didn't want to lie, especially to a friend. She knew it was more than wrong, it was just plain pestiferous. But Shivertail told her and Spyro to keep it a secret. Lie to a friend or disobey an order. That was her only options. So she quickly lowered her head and thought it through.

Cynder looked back up at the dragon in front of her then finally replied. "We took it to Shivertail's a while back."

"Shivertail?" A moment passed as Cosmo remembered that black scaled dragon. Cosmo always saw him as some sort of mayor of Warfang and recalled on how he helped him out, as well as many others during the storm crisis. "I remember him. Why did you take it to him? Didn't the egg belong to you and Spyro?"

Cynder shook her head, "Not exactly. Don't you remember that note we showed you?"

"What note?"

"The note that told on how the egg was special? It told us that the dragon inside was supposed to become a hero."

"Oh yeah," Cosmo remembered, sitting down on the flooring beside the couch where Spyro still slept. He certainly was in a deep sleep. "It said something about the guardians of the heavens right?"

Cynder slightly nodded, following Cosmo's example of sitting down. "Yeah."

"Seems to me like they have a connection to the spirit guardians that I keep hearing about from time to time," Cosmo recalled. "Or maybe they actually are the spirit guardians."

"You know about the spirit guardians?" Cynder redundantly asked.

"Well, yeah," Cosmo began, sounding as if everyone knew about it. "There's six of them in all and they all mean something different. If they appear to you then something is going to happen depending on what color they were." The yellow reptile still wondered on what that white dragon meant. He remembered on how it appeared unto him during the storm then vanished without a trace. But nothing ever happened to him. Maybe the white dragon didn't mean anything?

"I know about them," Cynder assured. It took her a moment to remember the name, then she continued, "Frederick filled me and Spyro in a while back."

"I heard that the spirit guardians were also known as the six and they had a child that could change colors. Or something like that." Cosmo continued.

"You did huh?" Cynder went in a lower tone. She looked up at Cosmo to see some wonder in his eyes. She knew what he was thinking. The egg. "I think it's time that you finally knew about the egg. Well, the egg has already hatched."

"Really?" Cosmo sounded sincere. "What's his name?"

"It's Star," Cynder answered. "Remember what you said on how the six had a child?" Cosmo only nodded and Cynder continued, "Star is the same child, just reborn so to speak."

Cosmo looked like his thoughts took over his sight for a few seconds. It looked like the yellow dragon was in another world for a moment before he finally came back to his senses and quickly replied, "Oh. Well that explains a lot. So if he's been reborn does that mean that something big is heading our way?"

"I believe you're right," Cynder softly said.

"I know I've already asked much, but is there any possible way I can see him?"

Cosmo looked Cynder over, hoping that he was going over the line. He really wanted to see this baby dragon but didn't know if Cynder would let him. It was understandable if she wouldn't permit it but it wouldn't hurt him to try. Hopefully at least.

"Well . . . maybe," Cynder responded with a small smile of amusement. "Maybe we can make an exception." The black dragoness made her way over to the back of the couch and leaned over the backside of it where Spyro was. She teasingly punched Spyro in the side a few times to wake him up quickly. She knew it wouldn't hurt him which was why she did it.

Spyro speedily stirred on the couch until he was sitting in an upright position, wondering why he was woken up in a rude sort of manner. "What?" Spyro slurred, rubbing his eyes.

"Get up," Cynder ordered. "We're heading off to visit Star and you are coming with us."

"Us? We're?" When Spyro eyes adjusted to the lighting of the faint lit room he finally noticed the visitor he had. "Oh, Cosmo?"

"He knows about Star and he wants to see him," Cynder went straight to the point.

"But what about having to keep Star a secret from . . . you know what whatever," Spyro gestured.

_Earlier_

_Underground Cavern_

Frederick never seen anything like this before. The whole cave was illuminated by the very walls around the humans. It was like the rock absorbed the light from the dragon's flame and was now lighting up the cavern. It was indeed, a marvelous sight. The cave itself was fairly large and pretty empty, save for a few rocks jutting out the ground here and there. There were also a couple of bones in the corner of the cave. Frederick guessed that used to be the dragon's meal from last night. There was plenty of room for the large dragon to freely maneuver around the cave without bumping into a rocky wall by accident.

"So this is where Jazz lives?" Isaac stated in a question.

"Pretty snazzy," Rita complemented.

Frederick stayed quiet. He was wondering on how the walls were letting out it's own light. It was quite interesting for he never seen such a thing. He didn't even think something could ever exist. Instead of standing in one spot in wonder, Frederick decided to take a tour around the cavern.

It was mostly cool in temperature, he guessed it stayed that way all year around. It was a great shelter from any type of storm and it offered the space the dragon needed. The humans mainly went their separate ways as they looked around. Isaac and Rita mostly spent their time examining the rock, wondering the same thing. Frederick was making his way toward the darker end of the cave where the dragon's flames didn't reach. He was still able to see with ease though as he hugged the wall until he reached the back of the Jazz's home. It was then that he noticed something he didn't see before, mainly because it was behind a jutted out rock.

"Hey you two, get over here," Frederick commanded. Isaac and Rita looked at one another then silently obeyed. When they found themselves standing at Frederick's side, they noticed that same thing Frederick was looking at.

"Is that a crawl space?" Rita smirked.

Frederick nodded, "Looks like it doesn't it? I can't tell if it goes all the way through though."

Isaac looked at it, unsure of what to say. It was true, there was a small hole that looked big enough for them to get through. But what was on the other side of this wall? That was if even there was something there.

"Hey Jazz," Rita called.

The dragon heard his name and made his way over to the humans. Jazz grunted in response as he waited for Rita to continue.

"A little light please," she continued.

So Jazz obeyed and let out a small flame. Isaac held his hair as if were going to catch fire as he felt the intense heat above him. It only took a few seconds for the walls to absorb the light, making it easier to see the hole. But the humans still couldn't tell if it went all the way through into another room.

"Still can't see in there," Isaac dully said.

"If you really are that interested on what could be on the other side, I could put together a torch," Rita suggested. "Courtesy of Jazz of course."

Frederick nodded in approval, "Do it."

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo had already been inside Shivertail's quarters before. But only once and it was around a month ago. Didn't seem a lot had changed though. Everything still seemed the be same as he last remembered it.

Spyro and Cynder led him down a large decorated hall until they turned a right into a sizable room. Cosmo saw a crib near the corner of the room, a bookcase filled with toddler books beside the door he just went through, a toybox toward his left with a big red play-mat in front of it. There was a desk toward the other corner of the room with a bed in front of it and a fireplace that was more toward the entrance on the right side.

There was also a large white dragon talking to a smaller black dragon. It was Ignitus and Shivertail and the black one seemed to notice the new company.

"Who is this?" Shivertail immediately asked in an unpleasant tone.

Cosmo felt like turning around but Cynder answered before he could do a thing, "This is Cosmo and before you ask, he already knew about Star."

"How?" Shivertail asked, a bit more polite this time.

"Medium story short," Spyro began. "Cosmo caught us with the egg. So he already knew about Star before you did."

"Cosmo," Ignitus began in a low pitch.

The yellow reptile wondered what he was thinking as he stepped forward to get a better view of the white dragon. "Who are you?"

"My name is Ignitus. Others may know me as the Chronicler but please just call me Ignitus."

Cosmo grinned, "Well then it's good to meet you Ignitus."

Ignitus smiled back, "It's an honor Cosmo."

Cosmo's grinned vanished as he wondered aloud, "What do you mean an honor? It should be me who's honored."

The Chronicler still held his grin, "I believe the time has finally come for me to tell you who you really are. I'm sure you have been wondering this yourself."

Spyro and Cynder exchanged unsure glances as Cosmo continued, "Wait, how do you know that?"

The ultimate question that had been with Cosmo ever since the beginning, did Ignitus really know that answer that he had been searching for?

"The reason you are the way you are," Ignitus began. "Is because-"

But Ignitus was interrupted by a simple sneeze from the purple dragon. He looked over at Spyro making the reptile say, "Sorry, please continue."

"Bless you," Cynder went with a grin.


	45. Element Fourteen

Chapter 45

Element Fourteen

A dragon. That was what he was now. He looked like a dragon, acted like a dragon, and had the knowledge on a dragon. But it didn't seem to matter at this point in time. Because of Ignitus, Spyro, Cynder, and Shivertail learned on Cosmo's secret. The secret that he used to be a human.

"What!" Spyro nearly jumped, violently making his way toward the yellow scaled dragon. "You're a human!"

Cosmo flinched as Spyro stopped right in front of him, breathing heavily. It was obvious that he was mad that he had been tricked into thinking that his own friend was the very thing that he hated most. "I'm sorry! I should have told you before!"

"Why didn't you?"

Cosmo looked up at the purple dragon, unsure of what to say to him. He only shook his head and drooped his whole body down toward the carpeted flooring.

"Because he was afraid," Cynder answered, calmly making her way toward her companion's side. "He was afraid of your reaction. Of all of our reactions. He only wanted to protect us along with himself."

Shivertail looked over at Ignitus, uncertain of how a human could have turned into a dragon. A powerful one at that. "You know the answers. Will you share them with us?"

Ignitus showed a grin in an attempt to ease Cosmo's fast pacing heart beats. "Yes. Cosmo here is tied into the storyline of the baby dragon watching us from his crib. As you know, one dragon has been born that had the same abilities as Star. It was a very long time ago but it happened. The guardians known as the six, raised that hatchling for they knew that an evil was approaching their world. That dragon knew why he was born, but didn't think he would have to sacrifice his own self to save our planet."

"Wait," Shivertail interrupted. "So he died?"

"He didn't make it off the dark planet in time." Ignitus shook his head as he remembered the story. "I wished that he would have had the chance to live a normal life like the others. But it just wasn't meant to be."

"So how is Cosmo intertwined in this?" Shivertail asked, knowing everyone wanted to know.

Ignitus looked down at Cosmo, seeing that he was dieing to know. So he answered, "As you know, the original six are long gone and have already passed away. But here is something you don't know. The six are already reborn on this world. Cosmo is one such dragon."

"What?" Shivertail went in disbelief. "Cosmo? Cosmo is one of the six?"

"How?" Cosmo asked the tall white dragon, unable to understand on how he could be one of the legendary dragons.

Spyro and Cynder were speechless and didn't have much to add into the conversation. Star was just watching the whole event in his crib, smiling from the looks of it.

So, Ignitus began to explain, "It was the spirit guardians themselves, that brought you into this world. You may not remember of how it happened, but now that you know the truth about yourself, that memory will come back to you. The reason you are here in our world is to train Star and help in a desperate battle against the darkness that hopes to claim this world."

"But-but," Cosmo quickly stammered. "I don't how to train someone. Heck, I had to get a cat to train me so I could learn some of the elements."

"But you've learned your abilities on your own. Your night vision, your strength, and your elemental possession."

"Elemental possession?" Spyro repeated, seeming a bit jealous.

"Yes," Ignitus continued. "Cosmo recently obtained the ability to steal an ally or enemy's knowledge of an element and use it for himself. But it required physical contact for it to work properly."

Cynder took the moment of silence to her advantage for a quick question of her own about the ability, "So if Cosmo touches someone, will they lose the knowledge to use an element forever?"

"No, eventually the effect will wear off and Cosmo will have no knowledge of that particular element anymore."

"So," Cosmo went in a degraded tone, "Am I the only one on this world that is one of the six?"

Ignitus shook his head, "No, there are others, much like you Cosmo."

"_In that case there must be five others that used to be humans that were turned into dragons. Yin used to be a human. Is she one of the six like me? And Isis. She must be one of the six as well. So there are three others like us. I wonder where they are?_ _And this elemental possession. Was that how I was able to use the shadow element?_"

"You seem like you have a lot on your mind," Cynder began as she looked over at Spyro. He looked back in hers for a moment before she continued, "So me and Spyro will be on our way."

Spyro was about to object to the idea but Cynder gave him a look that told him everything he needed to know. "Yeah that would be best."

Without another word, the two of them quietly left the room.

Taking in the opportunity, Cosmo turned to Ignitus, paying no attention to the black scaled dragon by the name of Shivertail, and politely asked, "Is Yin one of the six as well?"

"Yes," Ignitus nodded. "And so is your friend, Isis."

"Is Isis really able to fight the way she is? Train even?"

"She trained you, did she not? She also helped Yin during her time of need." Ignitus took a moment for Cosmo to process the information in his mind before going on with a more serious matter about the six. "There are three male guardians and three female guardians. Two, of which, you already met. Isis and Yin. The other three that are still missing is a red-scaled dragon who calls himself Blaze, a pink scaled dragon by the name of Myrianda, and a green scaled dragon named Clover."

Cosmo nodded in understanding, "Got it."

"You must find each other at all costs. If one spirit guardian dies, I fear our world will be at risk."

"I still don't understand something," Cosmo said, sounding less than enthralled at the moment. "Why me?"

A few silent seconds passed as Ignitus studied the yellow scaled guardian in front of him. "When the spirit guardians realized that there was a long forgotten threat coming to our world, they began to look for heroes. But they could not find any suitable enough for the challenge."

"So they brought humans into play," Cosmo interrupted. "I think I understand. Thank you for telling me this."

"But there is a problem that needs to be resolved before you and the other five guardians can unite. Something has happened to Clover."

"The green scaled guardian? Doesn't that mean that he indicates luck?" Cosmo asked out of curiosity.

"Not necessarily," Ignitus replied.

"Right, so what wrong with Clover? Is he in danger?"

"You can say that," Ignitus replied. "You have already met him before. More than once."

"I don't recall meeting him before," Cosmo said, attempting to remember such a dragon.

"Because he has been corrupted," Ignitus answered in a stern voice.

"That doesn't sound pleasant. What about the others? Are the others alright? Do you know where there are?"

"Blaze is safe but fairly far away from here in an underground cavern. You can say he is friends with one of the lesser intelligent dragons. Myrianda is safe as well for the time being. She can be found wandering the streets in the city though it may be hard to find her. It's a big city."

"Just wandering the streets?"

"She's been here in this world of ours for three months and has the knowledge of the rare element gamma."

"Gamma? What is that?"

Ignitus let out a moan but answered, "It fires small projectiles of purple energy that burns a victim upon contact. Kind of like poison but gamma can bounce off nearly any type of surface or wall. She learned her abilities during the countless number of fights she's been in."

"Fights?"

Ignitus shrugged as he looked over at Shivertail, who was giving his attention to Star at the moment. "She is . . . short-tempered and can be cocky at some points. She can probably be found in one of the local bars."

"So Myrianda is a drunk?" Cosmo said in disbelief. "You're kidding? What about Blaze? Does he have a drug problem?"

Ignitus raised an eye, "Is that a human problem? Interesting. But let me tell you these dragons abilities first."

"_This is like waiting in line at the grocery store_," Cosmo thought then sighed. "Alright I'm listening."

"First, all the guardians have the ability of night vision. Each guardian can have up to three abilities so you can scratch one of the list. Myrianda's abilities include increased stamina and endurance, and the ability to make one fall in love with her upon physical contact."

"Oh great, a drunk with those abilities. Please tell me that the love ability won't be permanent."

"No, its not. If it was then our world would be a mess. Now Blaze's abilities include eagle eye vision and camouflage. Eagle eye allows him to see miles away with ease and camouflage allows him to blend in with his surroundings. But he must stay completely still for this ability to work, otherwise it will wear off."

"Sounds pretty defensive," Cosmo replied. "What about Yin?"

"Yin's abilities include cancellation and psychic visions. Cancellation allows her to block out any enchantments done to armor, or block the use of an element from an enemy."

"That's pretty cool," Cosmo grinned. "What about Isis?"

Ignitus sighed, "Telekinesis and dragon time. Her telekinesis allows her to throw small objects or move large obstacles out of the way. Dragon time allows her to slow everything around her, making her movements appear five times as fast."

"And Clover?"

"He can increase his own luck and can move within his own shadow. Basically he can jump into his own shadow to sneak into places that are heavily guarded. Now instead of me telling you about all of these guardians and what elements and abilities they know, I will make you a list of sorts."

_Meanwhile_

"That should hold out," Rita said, examining her work of a quickly made torch she made from a tree branch in the shape of a rod with a rag she found in Isaac's bag tied around one end, smothered in a flammable liquid she called, "pitch." She handed over her newly made torch to Frederick, who seemed pretty impressed at her work. "I don't really know how long it will take before it burns out so I wouldn't go too deep in there."

"Yes, but I'm hoping there's some glow stones on the other side to help me find my way back if that happens," Frederick replied. "So are you coming along?"

"You bet," Rita grinned, happy to accompany him on this task. "Isaac?"

"What?" Isaac lazily said, acting as if he were depressed all of the sudden.

"You coming?"

Isaac took another look at the crawl space, which made him shiver in response, "No way, I don't do small spaces like that."

Rita shrugged, " Suit yourself. Hey Jazz, got a light?"

Jazz seemed to smile as he heard that he was needed, so he obeyed. Frederick held up the torch so Jazz could blow a short but sweet fire onto the top of the torch, lighting it up in response. Frederick had to check his hair to see if it wasn't on fire. Jazz's flames felt really hot just then. Still, he thanked the dragon as he saw the torch was working, so he proceeded through the crawl space.

Torch in hand, he crawled through the gap without any troubles. It was surprisingly a short crawl. When Frederick reached the other side, he stood to his feet and dusted his clothing with his free hand while Rita followed him through.

Seemed like Frederick was right, there was some glow stone here and there in the cavern. Not as much as in Jazz's, but enough to help them find their way back if something went wrong. The hidden room wasn't as big as Jazz's, but held something extraordinary.

"Gold?" Rita rhetorically said.

Frederick nodded, seeming awestruck by the sight. On the other side of the cavern, the humans could clearly see gold etched into the walls as it sparkled to the new light that entered the cavern. The gold was in the walls just itching to escape.

"Did someone say gold?" Isaac asked, peeking his head through the crawl space. It didn't take him but a couple of seconds to get through the crawl space and stand to his feet. "Where?"

"Thought you didn't do small spaces?" Rita asked, trying to be funny.

"Didn't know what was at stake," Isaac smartly replied, noticing the sparkling rocks in the cave walls in front of them. He just couldn't move then. So much gold in front of them just wanting to get out.

But Frederick was looking at something else entirely. In the southern corner of the cavern, there were bones. Animal bones? Frederick eyed them as he walked over to take a closer look. He knelt down with the torch and saw bite marks all along the bones, like they were someone's or something's meal.

"We better leave," Frederick suggested, making his way back toward Rita and Isaac.

"Why?" Isaac asked, not even bothering to look at him in the eyes.

"Because there is something else in this cave, there's bones in the corner over there. It's best if we leave now."

"That could be Jazz's last meal," Isaac mindlessly replied.

Rita took a look for herself from her spot and saw them, just where Frederick had said they were. "But Jazz can't fit through the hole. And why do I have the feeling we're being watched?"

"Yeah," Frederick quietly responded, being as still as possible. He looked around with his eyes, "I feel it too."

"By who?" Isaac asked, looking around the cave for himself. There was nothing to see other than the gold etched in the walls and the bones in the corner. He even looked up toward the ceiling to see if the perpetrator was hanging from the ceiling somehow but didn't see anything other than a rocky ceiling. "Are the walls watching us?"

Rita was the first to start moving. Slowly, but she was moving as if she were trying to sneak up on an unsuspecting soul. Then Frederick began making his way toward the bones at the same speed, trying to find the so-called someone who was supposedly watching them. Isaac looked at Rita to see her making her way toward the golden rock wall in front of them while carefully looking around for anything suspicious.

"This is ridiculous," Isaac stated, becoming aggravated at Frederick and Rita's behavior. "How can you seriously believe that someone is watching us? Am I the only sane person left in this cave?" So Isaac just went along with it and began to walk around the cave himself, but in a more frustrated paced mood. He made his way toward the left side of the wall while saying, "And I thought I was crazy. Why can't we just take the gold an-," but Isaac tripped over something cutting his sentence short a few words. He fell to the ground with a thud as he felt something moving from under him.

"Stop! Please just take the gold and leave!"

Rita and Frederick immediately snapped their attention over to Isaac, who seemed to be struggling to get off of someone.

Isaac managed to get a good footing and stood to his feet, "What the heck is going on? I trip over nothing and now I'm hearing voices. Great, now I'm the one who's crazy."

"Uh Isaac," Rita began. Isaac looked over at her with a spiritless look to hear her continue, "You weren't hearing things, nor did you trip over nothing."

Upon hearing this, Isaac forced himself to turn around and saw a dragon that only came up to his waist. It was a red dragon with an orange belly and tangerine colored wings.

_**Cosmo's List**_

** For the eyes of Cosmo only. If you are reading this and your name isn't Cosmo, then put this paper down and walk away. **

** Myrianda **

** Description- usually hangs around one of the few local bars around the city. Finding her won't be that easy. She has pink scales, and diamond pointed tail, a dark yellow underbelly, gray triangular spines on her backbone, her horns curve back and her snout is slender as well. Her wings are a light pink as well and she is a little bigger than you Cosmo. She may look innocent with her bright blue eyes, but don't let that fool you. She can have a short-temper so don't make her mad. She is also a bit cocky.**

** Elements- Ice, electricity, fear, gamma**

** Abilities- night vision, increased stamina and endurance, love upon contact. **

** Additional notes- Please avoid contact with her if you ever find her. She can choose on who she wants to use her ability on, but you can't take that chance. If she ever tries to get close, back off. **

** Blaze**

** Description- a red dragon with a slight bit of a paranoid personality. His size is a bit smaller than you and his tail is a bit longer than average for his size, which ends in a triangular orange spike. His belly is orange and his wings are a bit of a tangerine color. His horns are straight so beware if he tries to charge an enemy. His snout is average size but kind of flat as well. He never seems to let his guard down due to his personality and his eyes are a greenish blue color. **

** Elements- Fire, earth, poison, madness**

** Abilities- night vision, eagle eye, camouflage **

** Additional notes- Finding Blaze may be a bit difficult for he can be paranoid. If he ever senses any sort of danger or presence, there is a good chance he will use his camouflage to his advantage. But I don't think you have to worry about this one. You will see in the future.**

** Yin**

** Description- I believe there is no use in telling you about her description. **

** Elements- Ice, water, wind, fire**

** Abilities- night vision, cancellation, psychic visions **

** Additional notes- Her cancellation ability can be of great use if used correctly. Also, her psychic visions can be a life saver so I would stick close to her during your travels.**

** Isis**

** Description- She's a cat remember? Black fur, six whiskers, two extra tails, four small pink freckles and green cat-like eyes. **

** Elements- Electricity, earth, water, plasma**

** Abilities- night vision, telekinesis, dragon time**

** Additional notes- Unfortunately in Isis's current state, her abilities and elements are of no use. Fortunately, I may know a way to change her back to her dragon state. The instructions are on the back on this page.**

** Clover**

** Description- Unfortunately, I could not see his appearance before he was corrupted. **

** Elements- Unknown**

** Abilities- night vision, luck increase, shadow movement**

** Additional notes- his ability to increase his own luck is more useful than you may think. It may turn the tides of battle. **

** Clover has been corrupted by the rare element of convexity. This may be one of the elements he has knowledge of but I'm not sure. But just knowing the element can not be the reason on how he was corrupted. But he must be saved, not killed. **

_**On the Back**_

** How to change Isis back to her dragon self.**

** I may know a way to change her back. The magic that was used to transform her is going to be the same thing we will be using. Yes, it is an evil magic but we can make an exception. We must make an exception. **

** I will be working on a spell to change her back, but it will take some time. In the meantime, you must track down Myrianda and get her to join you. Blaze will be found by other means and we will leave Clover for later. **

** In order for this spell to work, we will need the help of a mythical creature known as a fairy. I may be able to take care of this myself, but if you ever have any leads to finding one then try to track one down and convince it to help us in our time of need. But again, I may be able to pull a few strings and find one for myself so focus on finding Myrianda first. **

** Give me about a couple of days to get things ready then bring Isis back to the palace where we will attempt to change her back. **

Cosmo set the paper aside on the table in his home, knowing that Isis should know about this. He knew she wanted to be a dragon again. She never said it, but he felt like he knew. But if Isis was going to change back, then someone was going to have to tell Kali on the cat's true identity. Boy, was this going to be fun explaining.

Cosmo chuckled to himself, "_Oh hey Kali, did you know Isis is actually a dragon who used to be a human who was transported from a different world to become one of the legendary guardians? Oh you didn't? Well you do now. Yeah, this is going to be a really fun talk. Or is it a real fun talk? Why am I worried about my grammar? Not like anyone cares, they can still understand me. If they can't then __they don't speak english. Or dragon. Am I even speaking english? Or thinking english for that matter? What really is going to be fun is trying to get Myrianda to join me without her trying to get me to fall in love with her so I'll buy her a drink._"

Cosmo shivered at the thought. "_Oh well, guess I have work to do. Finally._"


	46. The Tunnels Below

Swissigar, Interesting. I'm was so worried about not being descriptive enough until I was being over-descriptive. Thanks for telling me. I've cut down on the description so I hope this story has become better, especially since now I'm going down to brass tacks so to speak. No more boring fillers, time to get this story going. As for the restaurant owner's back story, I was, actually, going to have a part that dealt with the friendly wolves when Cosmo and Isis were making their way through Velxtra Forest. Or Vextra w/e it is. But you can say that there was a deleted scene during that time due to last minute thoughts.

Chapter 46

The Tunnels Below

_Location: Unknown Dark World_

_Date: Unknown_

A bright light surrounded the black dragon. Hopefully, this was a good sign that he made it through the portal just in time. His mission to destroy the dark crystal was a success and all the corrupted dragons on his world should have returned to normal by now. But for some reason, the hero still felt the same cold desert winds from before. He had hoped to make it through the portal before it dissipated into nothing, but as the bright light faded and his eyes adjusted, he found that he was wrong. The hero was still stuck on the dark world as it began to shake itself apart, due to it's energy source being destroyed. He tried to convince himself that it was a dream, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Hundreds of dark beings were making their way toward the dragon, anger fueling them. The distant sands were being kicked up into a dust cloud as they approached. The planet shook itself making the black dragon hold his ground, hoping the desert beneath him would hold out. He knew what was going to happen to him, but there was nothing he could do.

As the first couple of dark beings approached him, so he fired a couple of gamma shots at them. The gamma ricocheted off a couple of dragons before bouncing off into the sky, leaving behind some nasty burns on several dark beings. But it was like they didn't even feel the pain for they kept their pace. So the hero summoned up a hidden energy inside of him before it was too late, then let it out.

The hero shot out a large wave of light, hitting several of the dragons in the front. The dark beings let out a nightmarish scream as the light took effect upon impact, making them melt into nothing but ashes. But there were still a lot more left that wanted to make sure there was no way he was going to escape this planet alive.

The hero's attack drained some of his energy but he still had plenty of it left as he readied himself for the oncoming onslaught. The fastest of the dark beings made it to him first, slinging their claws at him like wild animals. The first one that attacked, the hero dodged then lashed the enemy on the throat, spilling his blood. A second dark being approached but the hero stopped him in his tracks with plasma. He let a short beam of plasma out, turning the dark being into a pile of green sticky goo in the process. As two more enemies approached him, the black dragon used water to create a large bubble filled with water then dropped it on the two dark beings. Still inside the bubble, the dark beings struggled to find air, but eventually drowned as their bodies reflexed for air, which let the air into their lungs.

The slower dark beings were only a few yards away, giving the hero a perfect time to send out a couple of signals of madness. This quiet attack got into a couple of the dark being's heads, making them stop in their tracks. It didn't take long for them to kill their own selves with the ends of their tails, attacking their kind (which made them attack back), or wander off in a random direction. But it only took a second for the ones who were infected by madness to die, leaving the hero on his own again.

He paced himself backwards while attacking with electricity, hoping for a chain effect to happen. But the dark beings were playing it smart and distanced themselves apart so the electricity wouldn't arc between them. As soon as the first dark being was close enough to attack, the hero was made to stop his elemental approach. The dark dragon slashed, claws outstretched, barely nicking the hero's chest as he tried to jump back to evade. Fresh blood seeped from his new wound as the dark being continued swinging his claws everywhere in a crazy fashion. While he still had a few feet between them, the hero used ice to freeze the dragon's paws in place on the ground. But somehow he found himself surrounded as another earthquake shook the sands beneath him. This one was more stronger than the last. It vibrated the hero's brain, leaving him dazed and confused for a short moment after it ended. Which was the perfect opportunity for the enemy to attack.

As soon as the black dragon recovered from the earthquake, he saw every dark being around him was charging toward him. There was no way out. The hero looked down on the ground beneath him and began combining two elements of which were said to never be combined. It was always suicide. Light and dark should never be combined. But there was no way out of this mess and he was going to die anyways. He knew that.

Convexity was how the whole mess started. That was what was wrong with these dragons now. They were infected with the element of convexity and there was no way they were going to infect him.

The hero charged up the two elements of convexity and light, eyes closed as his fate was sealed, then let it all out.

A blackened barrier formed around the hero and began to slowly expand, tearing up everything in its path in the process. The sound of a thousand explosions echoed through the cool breezy wasteland as every dark being that came in contact with the barrier disappeared without a trace. The effects of the two elements were just that bad. The dark beings found themselves running instead of attacking, hoping there was some way to survive. But there simply wasn't. The barrier's speed was great and engulfed everything in it's path.

As the barrier reached more than three hundred yards in diameter, it stopped expanding. As soon as it did, it began to shrink. The barrier traveled back to it's source, twice as fast as before, until the barrier met its walls. As soon as it did, the barrier shattered into a large explosion that could have been seen from miles away. Then all was quiet.

A few minutes passed as the hero stirred, lying on the dark sand below him, unquestionably in pain. He groaned, attempting to stand to his feet, as he saw yet, another dust cloud in the distance. He squinted, trying to make out what was causing it, then saw the last thing he wanted to see. There were even more dark beings coming toward him. Where were they coming from? There was no way they could have survived something like that explosion.

The hero struggled to stand to his feet, which took a minute or so due to his injuries. As soon as he was standing, the first dark being was already on him, slashing his claws in his face.

Too weak to even fight back, the hero feebly tackled the dark being to the ground and slashed him across the throat. Before he could even get back up, another dark being jumped on him, making the two of them roll a few feet away from the dead body. The dark being ended up on top, who scratched the side of the hero's cheek. The hero grunted in pain then countered with his claws, stabbing them into the dark being's chest. The dark being cried out in pain as the hero kicked him off himself the best he could. As soon as he did, another dark being leaped on top of him and screamed in his face. The hero flinched in response as more dark beings surrounded him. Then the hero looked up at the foe on him to see him raising his claws as a tribute of his success, then lunged them toward the hero's chest.

The hero may have died that day, but he left a mark in history by saving his home from becoming a dark wasteland. He only wished he was able to go back one last time to say goodbye to his loved ones. He was hoping for a hero's welcome when he would come back to his home safe and sound. But he didn't even get that.

_Present Day_

_8:11 P.M._

Cosmo made his way through the streets, looking for the pink dragon known as Myrianda. He was going to tell Kali on what Isis was, but he told the news to the cat first. She seemed to be happy toward the information she was given so she insisted that she would tell Kali on what she used to be while Cosmo tracked down Myrianda. She took the part of her being a guardian as a joke. Of course, she didn't believe him at first, but after a while of persuading he was finally able to convince her.

Eventually, the yellow dragon decided to ask someone on where the nearest local bar was.

"Just around the corner actually," a tall gray dragon said. "You can't miss it unless you're drunk."

Cosmo thanked him and continued until he reached reached the next bend, taking notice of the few dragons wandering the streets around him. As Cosmo turned the corner, he saw a sign that simply read 'Bar'.

"_Must be it. Or I hope._"

The curious reptile made his way towards the bar as he saw two dragons stumble out of its doorway. They looked back into the bar with strange looks on their faces as they quickly made their way down the street.

As Cosmo made his way through the front but barren door, he noticed that there were plenty of dragons inside, hoping to drink their days away. Most of them were sitting at their own craggy looking tables while the others were sitting in bar stools at the counter toward the back of the building. Cosmo noticed that some of the dragons were looking him, seeing that he was a newcomer, making Cosmo feel a bit nervous. He never was one for drinking. Still didn't stop him from looking around from his spot, seeing if there was anyone that might fit the description he was given.

It just so happened that today must have been his lucky day. A pink dragon was sitting by herself in front of the counter that seemed to fit the description well. So he began to make his way toward her.

Ignoring the other dragons, Cosmo bravely but slowly took his place beside her without even making eye contact. He wanted to keep things as smooth as possible, especially since he needed to avoid direct contact from her. The yellow scaled dragon tried to relax himself in the stool, listening in on the commotion from behind him out of boredom.

"What can I get you?" A male voice said.

Cosmo snapped back to reality to notice the red scaled bartender in front of him.

"What do you suggest for dragons who are going through a difficult time?" Cosmo asked, not knowing what kind of drinks there were in the dragon world.

The bartender knelt down to retrieve a bottle from a cabinet at his feet, then silently placed it on the bar for Cosmo to see.

"Farlix?" Cosmo read, never hearing of such a drink.

"The best in the land," the bartender replied. "I'll even let you have a taste."

Cosmo shrugged, "Well . . . alright I guess."

The bartender smiled as he uncorked the bottle and poured a little bit into a small glass for Cosmo to taste. The liquid had a red tint and swirling tint to it. The bartender then offered the glass for him to taste, which Cosmo accepted. He stared at the drink for a couple of seconds, unsure of whether or not he should actually give it a go. But eventually he huffed up and downed the drink within two seconds. It almost tasted like berries but Cosmo could taste the alcohol as it burned down his throat. He squinted his eyes as it happened, making the bartender smile again.

"Would you like a glass or would you prefer something else?"

Cosmo shook his head, "Nah just go ahead and give me a glass of . . . Farlin."

"Farlix."

"Yeah Farlix," the bartender replied. "Thank you Myrianda."

The name made Cosmo turn his head to see the pink dragoness he saw from before, staring straight back at him.

The bartender continued, "One glass is ten gems or you can have the whole bottle for seventy. Your choice."

Then Cosmo realized something. He didn't have any money on him. "Sorry but it seems I forgot my . . . money at home. I'll just do without the drinks for tonight."

"That won't be necessary," Myrianda grinned. "Put a bottle on my tab."

"Alright," the bartender shrugged as he left the glass and the bottle with Cosmo. "Enjoy your drink." With that the bartender made his way to the other side to see if any customers down the bar needed any refills. In the meantime, Cosmo wasn't feeling to great about himself, especially since Myrianda was the one buying him drinks.

"You didn't have to do that," Cosmo said. "I don't even drink that much. If at all."

"Well you seem to hold Farlix pretty well. The last dragon who tried that stuff ended up showing us his lunch."

"Right," Cosmo faintly replied then continued in an inside voice. "_I don't like where this is going_."

"So what's the problem?"

"What problem?"

Myrianda frowned at the response. "You said earlier that you were having a difficult time. So what's the problem?"

Cosmo considered on telling her a problem. Not his problem in particular but a problem. But he only shook his head as he looked back at the bottle with the farlix inside of it. "Nothing. My problems are my problems."

Myrianda seemed a little offended by being left out in the dark, but she still faked a smile.

"So . . . do you come here often?" Cosmo mindlessly asked, trying to make conversation.

"Where you goin' with this?" Myrianda nearly snapped.

"Nothing," Cosmo instantly replied. "Just . . . making conversation."

Myrianda looked over at Cosmo with an autistic look, "Alright, I'll play your little game."

"What game?"

"If you want to ask me out then just do it. Otherwise you're just wasting valuable time. And I bought you a drink so why aren't you drinking it? Those things are kind of expensive."

Cosmo rolled his eyes, still keeping notice of the drink on the counter in front of him. "Alright mom."

Myrianda looked aggravated at the response, "Fine, if you won't," the pink scaled dragon leaned by Cosmo, making his heart skip a beat. Myrianda snagged the bottle as Cosmo held his paws back, trying his best to avoid any sort of contact. Luckily, it seemed like that was the last thing on her mind at the moment. "Then I will."

"Now you don't have to do that Myrianda, that stuff will mess you up."

"It's supposed to," Myrianda replied, taking a swig from the bottle itself. Cosmo watched her as she swallowed to see the response of disgust in her face. "Now you somehow know me, but I don't know you."

"The bartender said your name earlier," Cosmo referred, knowing it was a good excuse because it was a true one.

"He did? I don't recall. So what's your name, or is it too complicated for me to even care?"

"It's . . . Cosmo," he hesitated.

Myrianda smiled, "Alright, now about that date."

"Date?" Cosmo repeated, not recalling anything of the sort. "What are you talking about?"

"You can't fool me. That's why you came over here and sat down beside me."

Cosmo sighed, "Maybe it was by coincidence that we met under these sort of circumstances?"

Myrianda shook her head, "Naw that can't be it." She took another swig of the farlix then swallowed. "If you want to go out sometime then I'll consider it."

Cosmo chuckled, "Actually I've already got a girlfriend. Sorry."

"Girlfriend? Who says that? Aren't we supposed to say companions or mates? You almost sound like . . ."

Myrianda looked deep in thought then. Cosmo studied her reaction for a moment, shook it off, then turned his attention toward the dragons behind him. There were plenty of open tables left, but it was a big bar as well. He didn't think much of Myrianda, until he heard the bottle scrape on the counter. He looked over to see her taking a big swallow of the farlix.

"Is that safe?" Cosmo asked in a protective sort of voice, a tad worried about the being next to him. "Why the big rush?"

Myrianda swallowed the farlix hard as she looked at the liquid in the bottle, laying her chin down on her two paws using the counter for support. "You just remind me of where I used to live."

Cosmo smiled, "And where might that be if you don't mind me asking?"

"Pff," Myrianda went. "Don't feign interest in my life." She took another swallow of the farlix making Cosmo flinch.

"I'm not."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Every time I tell someone about my past, they think that I've drunken too much. They only tell me to cut down on the drinks, but what else am I supposed to do?"

Cosmo looked over at her, seeing that the farlix was beginning to take effect. She began to look a little tipsy. "We could get out of here and you could tell me all about it if you would like. I'll listen and I won't reject on what you have to say."

"You know how hard it is to live on the streets? I have to ask other dragons for money for food."

"And yet, here you are in a bar, spending your money on expensive goods."

The pink dragoness looked a little offended by the statement, "You makin' fun of me?"

"Of course not," Cosmo quickly replied before he was slugged. "I'm just saying that the alcohol isn't going to help your cause."

"Sometimes it does," Myrianda openly admitted, looking a little more gleam. "It just depends on how well you hold it. Now about that date. I'll probably have a headache in the morning but I should be fine tomorrow night. I expect you to take me some place nice, like a bar."

"I already told you that I have a . . . companion."

"That's hard to believe," Myrianda smirked, taking another swallow of the farlix.

"First off, you would probably be better off not drinking that stuff. Secondly, how is it hard to believe?"

"I was being sarcastic, something of which you don't know nothing of. And this is your farlix, not mine."

"But you paid for it," Cosmo reminded.

A moment passed until Myrianda replied, "Oh yeah." She took, yet, another swallow of the farlix, leaving the bottle a little under half full.

Then the bar door swung open, which happened to catch Cosmo's attention. He looked over to see who caused it, to see a green dragon slightly larger than himself. He scanned the room until his eyes landed on Myrianda, on which they stayed.

Cosmo turned to Myrianda and whispered, "Do you know that fellow over by the door? He seems to be staring in this direction."

Myrianda stealthy looked behind her to the one Cosmo spoke of, then she growled in annoyance. "Just great. It's Ruffian."

"Old companion?" Cosmo attempted to guess.

"No. To tell the truth, I owe him money."

Cosmo looked back again to see that Ruffian had company with him. Two other dragons his own size and color were standing on both his sides. "Seems like he has company."

"Not good," Myrianda stated as if she had went through this one time before. "We need to get out of here."

Cosmo looked around for any exits, but Ruffian and his small gang seemed to be in front of the only exit there was. He casually turned back around to face the bar then whispered back, "Don't see any other exits." Cosmo quickly brainstormed through ideas, then came up with one. "Refill over here!"

"I'm glad to see you finally want a drink, but now isn't a good time," Myrianda softly said under the commotion of the other dragons behind them.

It didn't take long for the bartender to make his way toward Cosmo. "You say you want a refill?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you have a backdoor to this place."

The bartender shook his head, "I'm sorry but we don't. Why do you ask?"

Then Cosmo used a more serious tone, "Look here, if we don't get out of here there's going to be trouble in this bar. Chairs will be flying, dragons will get hurt, and not to mention the damages."

Then the bartender noticed on how Myrianda was trying her best to keep a low profile. He looked around the bar and spotted a larger green dragon, talking up a storm near the entrance. "Listen, if you're really desperate, you can get out of here through the cellar tunnels. But no one has been through the tunnels in ages. It will be risky but it may lead to a way out."

"May?" Myrianda repeated, holding her head as if she already had a headache.

The bartender shrugged, "I heard that the tunnels used to be a quick way out of the city in case anyone attacked. They were barely used during the battle against the humans a month ago."

"Thought you said no one has been down there in ages?" Cosmo repeated.

"Yeah, a dragon makes mistakes give me a break."

"Myrianda!" Ruffian called out. He began his march toward her as his buddies stayed back at the exit in case she tried to make a run for it. Hardly anyone was paying attention to him.

"Great!" Myrianda silently exclaimed. "Now I'm screwed."

"No," the bartender smiled. "The cellar is in the back. You better get going as soon as everything breaks loose."

"What do you mean?" Cosmo asked, not daring to look on how much closer Ruffian was to them.

The bartender simply showed him by picking up the half a bottle of farlix, then tossing it toward the nearest table. Cosmo quietly watched the bottle's flight until it shattered all over the table, splattering the contents all of the table's occupants. The three dragons stood to their feet in anger as they picked up their bottles of alcohol then mindlessly threw them at the next table. As if it were some sort of challenge, another half drunken dragon through the bottle that was in his paw in a random direction.

"Watch and learn," the bartender grinned.

It was like the domino effect as Cosmo watched Ruffian stop in his tracks, wondering who threw a bottle of ale at him. As he looked around, even more dragons, some drunk, some weren't, getting into a massive bar fight. Tables flipped over as bottles flew, making Ruffian get down for cover to avoid being taken out by a glass. It amazed Cosmo on how well the plan worked.

"What are you two waiting for? Come on!" The red scaled bartender called.

Cosmo and Myrianda looked past the counter to see the bartender motioning them to come along. So the two of them jumped the counter before things went bad in their direction then quickly followed the bartender toward the back of the bar.

As the three of them entered the small room, which was where the owner stored the alcohol. The bartender led them to a corner of the room where a small wooden hatch was. He then unlocked the hatch and opened it for the two of them.

"You two better be careful down there."

"We will," Cosmo assured. "And sorry about the bar."

The red scaled dragon smiled, "Bar fights happen at least one time a month so it's no big deal. Now get a move on."

Cosmo let Myrianda in the tunnels first. She slowly made her way toward the hatch with a sort of a stagger to her step, which worried Cosmo a bit. She jumped down into the hole without even thinking, then landed on the hard dirt with a thud, still quiet as she could be.

"You better keep an eye on her," the bartender suggested. "She seems a little squiffy if you know what I mean."

"Got it," Cosmo replied, then followed Myrianda's instance by jumping down into the tunnels himself. "_Like I really got a choice._"

"You be careful you hear?" the bartender went before closing the hatch.

As soon as the hatch was closed, everything went dark. Basically pitch black darkness surrounded them, making him use his night vision ability. Cosmo closed his eyes for a moment, then reopened them to a colorless world. The tunnels seemed a little thin but he could manage. He wondered on how the dragons were able to build them.

"Myrianda," Cosmo called out. He looked around until he found her sitting down on the ground behind her. "We're gonna have to use our ability to get out of these tunnels."

"What ability?" Myrianda slurred. "Oh hey . . . hey."

"What? Are you drunk already? That farlix must be some bad stuff."

"Have you ever seen . . . wait . . . oh now I . . . where are we?"

Cosmo shook his head, "Can't believe I'm going through with this right now. Figures, now I'm going to have to drag you all the way to safety."

"I'm good," Myrianda said in some sort of mysterious voice. "Hey, have you noticed on all the pretty colors in the salix? It was like I was drinking . . . a rainbow. I love rainbows."

"Yeah that's nice," Cosmo replied. "We have to get moving before Ruffian finds out where we went."

"But I don't want to go. I love it here."

"Do you know the saying that there's light at the end of the tunnel? Well in this case, there are rainbows."

"Rainbows?" Myrianda slowly said. "I love rainbows."

"Yes, we've established that."

"Hey . . . want to see something that is totally gnarly?"

Cosmo sighed, "Better yet, we better get you out of here before you pass out."

Cosmo hesitated, but had no choice. He took Myrianda by the arm and began to lead her through the darkened tunnels.

"Hey," Myrianda tried to object at being dragged along the trip.

"If you weren't so drunk then you would be walking like a normal dragon," Cosmo complained.

"I don't get drunk," Myrianda replied to the best of her abilities. "I just get a little buzzed."

Cosmo shook his head, trying to ignore her. Now wasn't the time to be joking around. They traveled down the tunnel, only seeing it split off into a different path once. But they stayed on their route, hoping it was a good choice. Things were kind of gloomy down in the depths of the tunnels.

"This is the best date . . . I've ever had," Myrianda poorly said. Cosmo could barely make it out.

Cosmo looked back at her, still having to keep a hold of her by the arm so she wouldn't go wandering off, "Must have been seventy-five percent alcohol and twenty-five percent stupid."

But for some reason, Myrianda looked rather cute now. Colorless, but cute. Even though she was drunk, Cosmo found her to be intriguing in an unusual sort of way.

Then Cosmo realized what happening. "Oh crap. I know she didn't. I am so screwed."


	47. Escaping The Void

I know its been a few days since the last update. I'll just say that I had a week long job that paid a hundred and forty dollars.

At J6 the bounty hunter. If you aren't him then skip this if you choose.

Dunno about the OC to tell you the truth. I'm not trying to be mean but I actually had the rest of the story planned out in my head. I usually don't accept OC's because it'll be more than a burden than helpful. Burden because I'll constantly be asking myself "Is this how the owner of this OC wanted this character to be like? Am I doing this right? Will the owner of the OC be happy with what I've done?" Also, the OC seems a bit . . . overpowerful. A story can't have an overpowerful OC, otherwise readers will actually lose interest because there is basically a hundred percent chance that the OC will succeed in his missions. The readers want risk involved. That's the main reason why I killed off the original hero in the last chapter. To show the readers that Star isn't invincible. I thought I was pushing the boundaries by making Star and the six to begin with. From the description of the OC, all I saw was another Star, which shouldn't be possible in this story.

Anyways, if you want your OC in this then I may have to just give him four elements instead of all fourteen of them. His ability was overboard as well. Sure Cosmo has that ability, but yours said that the OC could KEEP the element he stole. Kind of useless if he knew every element to begin with right? Again, I'm not trying to be mean, that's the last thing I want to do. If I made you mad then I'm sorry. If your not gonna read my story anymore or just hate me then go on ahead. Besides, there's fifteen elements. Sort of.

Chapter 47

Escaping The Void

It was time to tell her the truth. Kali needed to know on what Isis was and how she ended up in that plight. It was going to be tough and she would most likely reject the truth, thinking the cat would be telling her a joke. But it had to be done.

Isis was curled up on the couch beside the blue dragoness, trying to get the words out of her mouth. But fear was holding them back. Fear of what might happen. Kali could become mad for being lied to all this time or simply because the cat never told her the day they met. Or she would reject the idea and wouldn't support it one bit.

"Kali," Isis nervously began. Her voice was sort of low.

The dragoness turned toward the cat, wondering the reason on why the cat looked a little tense. "Yes?"

"There's something I have to tell you. It's important to me."

Isis fell silent for a few moments making Kali reply, "Is something wrong?"

The cat shook her head, "The only thing that is wrong . . . is me."

"You? Are you sick?"

"You can say that I'm sick of being something I'm not."

With a bewildered look, Kali replied, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not who you think I am." Isis stood to her feet, ready to spill the beans. "I'm not a cat."

"So . . . are you a half breed?"

"I'm a dragon," Isis finally answered. "But I also used to be a human."

Kali chuckled to herself, "Funny."

"I'm serious," Isis said in the most sincere way. "Ask Cosmo when he gets back. Cosmo would never tell a lie to you."

"Alright," Kali went with a convinced voice. "For the sake of argument, let's just assume that you used to be a dragon who also used to be a human. How did you end up becoming a dragon in the first place?"

"I don't know," Isis shrugged. "Just like Cosmo, I have no memory of what happened that day. But Cosmo said that those memories should come back to me now that I know my role in the dragon realm."

Kali nodded while playing along, "Alright, so do you remember on how you became a cat?"

Isis answered back, hoping she was going to ask that, "It's a long story."

_Meanwhile_

Myrianda was still drunk, singing in some poor tune, "There once was a meatball, who fell on the floor. From the spaghetti, to the . . . floor." A moment of silence passed then Myrianda continued. "There once was a meatball, who fell on the plate."

"_For the love of-_" Cosmo began in his thoughts. But as he looked back to look at Myrianda, he just couldn't finish. "Say Myrianda."

"What?"

"What do you say when this is all over we go out a grab a bite to eat?"

Myrianda blinked a couple of times then answered, "Well ok, if you insist."

Cosmo smiled, "So where do you like to go to eat the most? I like Lateef's but that's just my opinion."

"I wasn't talking to you," Myrianda replied in a slow manner. "Except for now. This is me talking to you."

Cosmo sighed, "So who were you talking to?"

Myrianda only smiled then changed the subject, of more singing, "There once was a meatball, who fell on the stove. Nah nah nah naaaah nah."

Cosmo shook his head in a lurid sort of way, not even believing what he asked. Luckily, Myrianda wasn't even listening. He decided to avoid looking at her until the effect of Myrianda's strange ability wore off, but her voice just sounded beautiful at the moment.

"_Gah, must resist!_" The yellow scaled reptile put two wings over his ears as he continued walking down the tunnel.

"I once knew a dragon who would kill for a penny. But then I met someone who was greedier than him then that dragon disappeared forever."

"_Un-freakin-believable. I can still hear her._"

Some time passed as they walked down the tunnel. Cosmo did his best in trying to ignore Myrianda, but he had to keep a hold of her to make sure she would stay with him. Who knew what she would do in her drunkard state? She still sung random songs along the way along with the occasional random line here and there. But what about Kali? What would be her reaction if she saw Cosmo in his state, being forced to fall in love with another dragoness? More the reason to get this job done as quickly as possible. He had to take her to Ignitus as soon as possible.

"Hey . . . where are we?" Myrianda slurred.

Cosmo shook his head as he heard her voice. He couldn't help but answer to hear it again, "In the underground tunnels, still trying to escape from the dragon you owe money to."

Myrianda quickly looked around in wonder, making Cosmo look back without even thinking. He saw her looking around frantically, "Who said that?"

Cosmo rolled his eyes, enjoying the sight as he looked back at the pink dragoness. Even though she staggered every five steps, Cosmo found her to be something new. Something he couldn't explain.

"_Something that is being forced into my head,_" Cosmo thought, forcing himself to look away. "_I have to keep moving without thinking about her._"

Twenty more long minutes passed, filled with Myrianda talking to herself, singing, or just slowing Cosmo down. Every time Cosmo looked back at her, he fell in love all over again. But he knew it was a fake emotion. He would look at Myrianda then when he felt the emotion coming along again, a memory popped up in his mind. An important one. Him and Kali, Twilight Falls, the night they shared together was one of a kind.

As they two of them traveled, Cosmo found it was easier to evade the emotions he was having for Myrianda and eventually, the emotions stopped attacking him. Glad that he didn't find Myrianda as loveable as before, he focused on traveling while ignoring her constant interruptions. As they traveled, Cosmo noticed a couple more forks in the tunnels which lead to different paths. But Cosmo stayed on the path he was on for right now. If it led to a dead end it would be easier to head back for the bar.

It seemed the tunnels wanted to never end, but Cosmo finally found himself coming up to some obstruction up ahead. As he neared it, the tunnel ended and opened up into a large room or empty bunker of some sort. Cosmo looked around and spotted a faint light passing through a small gap in the wall near the ceiling. So that was where he went. He looked up at the gap and finally let Myrianda go long enough for him to climb through the hole. As soon as he was out, he helped Myrianda climb up. With a heave, Cosmo pulled the dragoness out of the bunker then sighed in relief.

"Finally," Cosmo went in satisfaction. "Thought we were never going to get out of there."

Myrianda was quiet for once. She only looked around the best she could, despite of still being tipsy. Seemed like they crawled out of someones old forgotten basement for they were standing right beside a two story house.

Cosmo breathed in some fresh air then decided to take Myrianda to Ignitus.

As they headed for the nearby street, they failed to notice that they were being spied on by two dragons. Another pink dragoness stood in the two story house, looking through a window at them.

"Strange," the pink dragoness said. "He sort of reminds me of Cosmo."

"Who?"

The pink dragoness smiled, "That dragon over there on the street." She went quiet for a moment as the one who she was speaking to stood by her side. "Say Torch, doesn't that dragon look familiar?"

The red scaled dragon Torch nodded, "Yeah, he reminds me of Cosmo as well. But there are a lot of dragons that are yellow. But I don't think it's him Micha."

"Oh? Why do you think that?"

"He's walking with someone I don't even recognize." He looked at Micha for a moment then continued, "Well, she can't be you."

"Maybe your right," Micha replied.

But yet, there was another dragon they failed to notice. A shadow made it's way down the street, stealthy tailing Cosmo and Myrianda.

A couple of minutes passed until Cosmo finally felt like he was being watched. He looked around as he walked, only seeing the empty streets. But he couldn't shake the feeling no matter how hard he tried.

"I'm a flying banana," Myrianda slurred.

"Whatever floats your boat," Cosmo quietly replied.

_Meanwhile_

Isis took a breather, satisfied that her story was well told. Kali seemed to be taken aback a bit by the tale but also looked like she understood it all. The blue dragoness sat down on the couch beside Isis while thinking the whole matter through for a quiet moment, watching the fire crackle in the fireplace.

"So your role is the same as Cosmo's?" Kali asked, persuaded by the cat's well told story.

"Yeah," the cat nodded, looking up to Kali. "I guess you have a right to know that there are others like us, six to be exact. Cosmo said that he already found three, which will most likely change tonight."

"You have that much faith in him?"

Isis grinned a little, "Of course I do, why wouldn't I?"

Kali looked at the cat, seeing the trust in her eyes. The blue dragoness then realized that she should have faith in her friend as well. Did it take Isis to tell her that she didn't have enough faith? Or did it take Isis to tell her on how much faith she had owned for Cosmo?

"Right. I trust that Cosmo will find the fourth by tonight."

Isis smiled and turned her attention to the fireplace. Kali watched as her own eyelids began to grow heavy while she tried to watch the fire as well. But Isis kept her from falling asleep.

"You want to know about the role's that the six have?"

Kali opened her eyes and looked over, "Yes, I would like that."

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo jumped back, avoiding the sudden ambush on him and Myrianda. He didn't know where he came from, but somehow he was here and he found them.

With the narrow streets empty, Cosmo found himself facing the black dragon Phantom.

Without a word, Phantom charged for Cosmo, claws ready to strike. Cosmo growled then quickly shot some icicles, hoping to slow his rival's movements. It actually worked. Phantom didn't even try to dodge the icicles as if he were somehow desperate to kill Cosmo. The yellow dragon quickly ran out of the dark dragon's lunge and somehow found himself back to Myrianda's side. Still a bit slowed for the time being, Phantom turned around with a wicked smile on his face.

"Why are you doing this?" Cosmo urgently asked, hoping to stop the fight.

"The six must not be reunited. I mustn't allow it."

"Why?" Cosmo plainly asked. "Why is it that every time I find someone just like me, you have to ruin the party?"

Phantom only sneered in response which caught Cosmo a bit off guard. So the dark dragon used the opportunity to attack with electricity. The bolts of lightening came fast and struck Cosmo as if he were made of water. It was a little painful as Cosmo's body jerked by itself when the electricity ran through him. But it was as if some being out there was watching him and giving him strength.

Cosmo made eye contact with Phantom while the electricity still flew and smiled. The dark dragon found himself surprised, especially when he saw a fireball heading toward his way from Cosmo. Phantom ceased his attack and attempted to leap out the way, but the fireball was too fast for him as it struck him. The attack hurt him a bit but the dark dragon was still standing with smoke too faint to see rising from his scales. Cosmo was a little hurt as well but still found himself smiling.

"You shouldn't be so happy when your facing death," Phantom threatened.

"I'm afraid your wrong," Cosmo corrected. "This death you speak of is merely an obstacle in my path. One of which I will learn to master." The yellow dragon turned quickly to see Myrianda, still behind him. She seemed to be passing out on the cement but was fine.

"From that tone of voice you sound confident. How about we take this thing up a notch?" Phantom challenged.

Cosmo grinned, taking a few steps back to Myrianda's side. He put a paw a comforting paw on her shoulder and said, "Stay here Myrianda. I'll be back."

"Talking to her won't help you," Phantom argued. "Let's settle this! Here and now!"

Cosmo looked back at Phantom and replied, "Your right. Talking to her won't help me in any way. Your here to take my friends away." Cosmo took a few steps forward to his rightful place, "As one of the six, I will do everything in my power to stop you."

"You will try," Phantom began in a low tone. His voice raised as he continued, "But trying will never get you anywhere!" Phantom charged toward Cosmo, "Trying is the first step to failure!"

Cosmo jumped out the way to avoid being skewered by Phantom's horns. He landed on his paws to avoid getting hurt on the pavement, "Then why are you trying to stop me?"

As soon as Cosmo had the chance, he countered Phantom's charge with a blazing fire. The flames covered the dark dragon in a smothering heat leaving him dazed for another quick attack from Cosmo, an earth missile. Cosmo fired a quick but weakly charged, poorly aimed missile. It hit Phantom in the leg knocking him to the ground in result.

"You think you can get rid of me that easily?" Phantom coughed. He stood to his feet while Cosmo backed away a few steps in case he tried anything. "It's not that easy to get rid of me."

"Tell me something I don't know. Your harder to get rid of than ants."

Phantom growled then attacked with something Cosmo wasn't expecting. A green beam of plasma came toward Cosmo so fast, the yellow dragon didn't have much time to react. His fastest reaction was to dive to the side and pray he wasn't hit. As he landed on the concrete the breath was knocked out of him. He stood to his feet with speed, thanking whatever force was watching him that his limbs were all still attached.

But something wasn't right. Something was going on with Phantom. He seemed to be out of control of his own body somehow. Phantom held his head as if he were in pain, staggering around on his hind legs, grumbling something under his breath. Cosmo didn't know what to think, until he heard the dark dragon speak.

"Run."

"_Run?_" Cosmo thought. He barely heard it. "_What kind of trickery is this?_"

"Get . . . out of here." But it didn't sound like Phantom. It sounded like something was inside of him, trying to make an escape. "I'll . . . hold him-."

"What are you up to?" Cosmo said in an orderly fashion. "Whatever kind of deception your planning it isn't going to work."

"Phantom . . . more powerful than you . . . run."

"_Wait a second._" Cosmo squinted his eyes as he remembered the name. "Clover?"

"Run!" Phantom called out. Cosmo only ignored him. Then it seemed as Phantom's disordered movements began to cease. Cosmo lowered himself back into his fighting stance as he watched Phantom for any type of surprise attack. But the yellow dragon heard laughing from the dark dragon. "You should have listened to your friend."

Phantom looked over at Cosmo in the eye, and Cosmo looked back at his bloodshot eyes. "So you really are Clover."

"Your going to regret not listening to him," Phantom mocked.

Cosmo growled and fired some ice shards, hoping for a hit. But as the shards closed in, Phantom seemed to just disappear out of existence. Cosmo looked around himself and didn't see anything, making him a bit worried on where his opponent was. But the question answered itself as Phantom just appeared behind Cosmo. Cosmo turned as the dark dragons claws lunged toward him. Cosmo threw his claws out in front of him and somehow managed to knock Phantom's attack to the side, giving him an opening. It was now or never.

Cosmo fired a couple shots of an element not even Phantom was expecting, gamma. The gamma shot out Cosmo's maul like needles, sticking into Phantom's chest and leaving behind nasty burns. Phantom staggered backwards, away from Cosmo, as he looked down at his wounds.

"That stings." But it sounded as if Phantom wasn't even hurt that much, which surprised Cosmo. "So you do know how to fight."

The burning needles disappeared from Phantom's chest, leaving behind a few holes in his chest. But there wasn't any blood seeping from the wounds. Cosmo was dismayed at how his surprise attack didn't even affect Phantom that much.

"I don't have any more time for games," Phantom said in a more serious tone. "If one of the six is gone, then my mission will be complete. To the void with you."

But before Cosmo could react in any way, he felt the ground shaking under him. Cosmo steadied himself the best he could then looked back at Phantom to see some type of black round distortion appearing in front of him. It was slowly beginning to grow as it sucked in the air, and everything else in front of it, inside. Then Cosmo realized what it was. A black hole.

Cosmo turned and tried to run for it, but he was going nowhere fast. He ran as fast as he could, but he was being sucked into the black hole, or the void. It seemed things were almost hopeless but it was as if a greater force was watching them. As Cosmo ran, he noticed a small glowing light cross his path. Before Cosmo knew it, some type of unknown force made itself known to Cosmo. Two light orbs circled around Cosmo with intense speed, flying so fast that it seemed Cosmo was in a golden shield.

"What! No! I almost had him! NO!"

Then in a quick zap, Cosmo had disappeared without a trace along with the orbs.


	48. DejaVu

Oops. Did I say fifteen elements last chapter? Sorry there was a slight error in numbering. So I came up with eight elements on my own. Pretty cool eh? You can use them if you want I won't mind. After all that's what a story is for. Entertainment and inspiration. Well I don't know if water really counts but oh well.

J6 the bounty hunter – I'll see what I can do about that. And you don't have to apologize. He might appear in a later chapter though.

And apologies for these authors notes, especially the last one. But they are necessary and can be avoided by scrolling down until you see 'Chapter 48' so don't get mad at your own stupidity. At least I don't leave author notes in the middle of a chapter like some people. I know you people loathe those. So I may do it to pee some of you off on purpose lol. Sarcasm there. Also, this chapter is nearly six thousand words long but it's probably boring. Not surprising because I suck. Yes, I like to beat myself up about these things.

Chapter 48

Deja-vu

Spending the night in a dark cave was rough, but the three humans managed to do it. After stretching the kinks out of his joints, Frederick made his way outside the cavern for some fresh air with a map clutched in his fist. A wall of heat hit him in the face as he walked through the corridor making him remember that he was in some kind of tropical jungle. But he still remembered that gold he and his other two team mates found as he unfolded the map he brought along and began pinpointing their location the best he could.

"Are you leaving?"

Frederick turned his head to see a red dragon in the corridor of the cave. He stayed indoors for it was cooler. "Soon my friend."

"That's unfortunate. I was enjoying the company."

The human studied the dragon over to see a look of disappointment in his face. "You never told me on what your doing all the way out here Blaze."

Blaze looked down at his orange belly in thought for a moment before answering, "I was born out here."

Frederick didn't look too surprised as he looked the map over. "Doesn't this heat drive you mad?"

Blaze shrugged, "I'm used to it but I usually prefer the cold."

Even though Frederick wasn't buying that Blaze was born out in the jungle, he just went with it. He found it useless to argue.

"So where do you live at if you don't mind me asking?" Blaze continued, still inside the cavern.

Frederick was about to answer but came up with a better idea. "Come closer and I'll show you."

Blaze hesitated but obeyed with a shrug. The dragon emerged from the cave to feel the wave of heat come over him. He wanted to retreat back into the chilly cave but he wanted to see on what the human was talking about.

Frederick dug through his side pocket until he found what he was looking for. A small magical mirror he used in the past plenty of times that he used to see places that were out of his reach. He held his mirror down for Blaze to see then a few seconds later, the mirror began to work its magic. Blaze watched as his reflection swirled into a cloud. It disappeared seconds later to reveal the snowy mountains with some kind of civilization on the side of it. It looked like it would be a nice place to live, but there was one feature that Blaze found that he thought was out of the ordinary.

"It looks like a place that would be nice to live . . . but it looks a little hot. No offense."

Frederick looked a little surprised at the response. "What do you mean by that?"

Blaze looked a little closer and continued, "Is it supposed to look like that?"

Curious, Frederick brought the mirror up for him to see. But what he saw was something he wasn't expecting. "What is this? There must be some kind of mistake!"

Frederick saw that the dojo was on fire. Some terrible accident must have happened and it made Frederick worry beyond belief. That dojo was his home and it was going up in smoke and ashes. But upon closer inspection, Frederick could see activity on the walls of his home. It looked like there were black dragons attacking his home. But why?

"I have to get the others," Frederick calmly said, putting the mirror away in disbelief. "Looks like I failed my search."

"Search?" Blaze repeated. "What were you looking for?"

Frederick turned and began walking into the cavern with Blaze beside him. "We were looking for the Parched Desert but we had reason to believe that the name was changed to the Oasis of Riches."

Blaze seemed to chuckle for a second, "You didn't fail Frederick. Your in the Oasis of Riches."

"Wait," Frederick went, making his way down into Jazz's chamber. "We're in it?"

"Why do you think it's so hot in this jungle? If the Parched Desert is the Oasis of Riches then you have found what you were looking for."

"Won't do much good if everyone dies back home," Frederick raspingly replied. "By the time me, Isaac, and Rita can get back home, there won't be anything left. It took us days to get here."

"Yeah well . . . what if . . . you fly?"

"We're humans, we can't fly," Frederick simply responded in a low tone.

"But Jazz can," Blaze happily suggested. "If you just explain the situation to him then maybe you, Isaac, and Rita can ride on his back."

Frederick nearly stumbled as he reached level ground, for he was walking in the near pitch black darkness. But he could see the poorly lit flames from a fireplace they made last night which seemed to work for now. "Not a bad idea." A few more seconds passed then he continued, "If we do go, will you come with us and assist us in battle?"

"B-Battle?"

"I know it's a bit sudden but if you want, we can take you to the dragon city. I'm sure you want an easier life." Blaze stopped in his tracks as Frederick approached Isaac, sleeping while leaning up against Jazz. "It's your decision."

_Lol Authors Note: Meanwhile_

It was nine in the morning and yet, still no sign of the yellow dragon. Kali was worried that something went wrong last night and she wanted to go and look for him but didn't even know where to start. She made her way into the living room to see Isis sitting on the couch as if she were waiting for something. The cat looked over at Kali when she saw her emerge from her bedroom. The blue dragoness had been treating Isis a little differently now that she knew that Isis used to be a human. It was kind of like she was being distant or she was feeling guilty for something she done. She hadn't been petting the cat like she used to, which kind of bothered Isis a bit.

"Hey Isis, have you seen Cosmo lately?"

Isis shook her head, "Sorry Kali, I've been waiting for him but I haven't seen him."

"I'm worried about him. He should have been back by now."

"He should have been back last night," Isis corrected. "I wish I could go look for him."

"I wouldn't even know where to begin."

Isis stayed quiet for a few moments in thought then answered back quickly, "I may know where we can go. There was this dragon called Ignitus on that list Cosmo had. Ignitus is supposed to be the one to change me back into a dragon but he may know where Cosmo is now."

Kali made her way toward the cat, a bit more interested than before, "Really? Do you know where Ignitus is?"

Isis sadly shook her head, "Unfortunately I've never seen or heard of Ignitus before. But if he can perform the magic to change me back and know about all the other dragons like me, I say that he's our best bet."

"So I wonder where we can find him."

"Maybe the city elder can tell us," the black cat suggested.

"You mean Shivertail?" The cat nodded in response then Kali continued, "I guess asking him is better than just sitting around and doing nothing."

So the two of them left the household and headed for Shivertail's office. As they made their way down the street, Isis was given more than a couple of odd looks. The dragons weren't used to seeing a black cat out on the street in broad daylight, especially one that followed Kali around. If Isis wanted to, she could have told them to stop staring. It would have at least brought a few laughs.

Eventually the two of them found their way to the office in a thirty minute walk. After a few minutes of explaining and a bit of begging, Kali managed to get by the doorkeeper. Isis used her sneakiness to slip on by. She didn't know if animals were allowed inside the office or not.

They made their way down a long fancy decorated hall then caught sight of a small corridor on the left with the label 'office' on the left of it. Kali peeked inside to see a large black dragon sitting behind a sizable desk, looking bored. There were plenty of places to sit in front of the desk, so Kali casually entered, which caught Shivertail's eye.

"What can I do for you?" Shivertail asked, caught a little off guard.

Kali didn't bother sitting down for she was going to be brief. "I'm looking for someone by the name of Ignitus. Is there anyone you know by that name?" She sounded a little urgent.

"Ignitus? Why do you ask?"

"My friend has gone missing and I'm afraid that this . . . Ignitus may be the only one that knows where he is." Kali caught Isis sitting in front of the desk, avoiding the detection of Shivertail while listening on the conversation.

"That doesn't sound good, but how do you know about Ignitus?" Shivertail orderly asked, standing to his feet.

"My friend's name is Cosmo," Kali simply answered.

Then it seemed as if Shivertail's mind was completely made up right then. "Stay here, I'll be back."

Shivertail speedily made his way around the desk and disappeared out of the office in just a few seconds, not even noticing the cat that was watching him. Kali stood in her spot for the moment, wondering if Shivertail just ditched her, but sat down on a nearby chair anyways. Isis softly jumped onto her lap for a place to rest while they waited. But Kali seemed to become a bit uncomfortable all of the sudden with Isis on her lap now. She kept on moving around, giving Isis a sign that she was, in fact, uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because Kali knew she used to be a dragon, who used to be a human? But eventually the blue dragoness stopped for she began thinking.

Kali wondered on how Cosmo was doing and hoped that he was safe wherever he was. What if Cosmo was actually safe in the city but just never came back home due to some kind of complication? What if Cosmo was home right now, wondering where the two of them went off to? Thoughts ran through her mind as she waited for Shivertail to return. It seemed like it was taking forever.

But it actually only took a few minutes for Shivertail to return. When Shivertail walked through the door, he noticed the cat on Kali's lap, but didn't even seem to care at the moment. Isis noticed so she didn't move from her spot. It was quite a comfortable one.

Behind Shivertail entered a large white dragon, bigger than Shivertail himself. Kali had the thought that this might be Ignitus. She hoped it was.

"This is the one," Shivertail regarded toward Kali as he sat down behind the desk.

The white dragon turned to meet eye to eye with Kali with a smile. Kali didn't seem to be sure at first but the white dragon spoke kindly which made her feel at ease. "So your Cosmo's friend? He spoke to me about you once. Your Kali correct?"

Kali slowly nodded, "Yes."

"Quite lucky Cosmo is to have you."

Kali blushed a bit but managed to hide it, "I'm worried about him though. He seems to have gone missing."

"So I've heard," Ignitus sedately replied. "He was in danger at one moment, but is now safe."

"Where?" Kali impatiently asked.

Ignitus could see the worry in her face. He answered quickly, "He is in another realm for the time being." Then he eyed the cat on her lap. "You must be Isis."

Shivertail looked up to see the black cat answer back, "You are correct."

"So that's Isis?" Shivertail rhetorically asked.

"Indeed," Ignitus responded. He continued from before, "Do not worry Isis. We will change you back into your original form soon."

"Who said I was worried?" Isis snickered. "So what do you mean that Cosmo is in another realm?"

"Yes, well, about that. I fear that Cosmo may be gone for a few days now."

"A few days?" Kali nearly exclaimed. "Why is that?"

"I was going to cure Isis and change her back, so I managed to have two fairies meet me here. But last night, they came across Cosmo in a battle against Phantom and Cosmo was losing. So in order to save Cosmo and Myrianda, the fairies used up nearly all of their magic to transport them to their realm to save them. It will take a few days for a fairy's magic to recover so we will just have to wait until then."

"The fairy world?" Kali said in skepticism. "Your kidding right? I thought fairies were just a myth."

Ignitus chuckled while Shivertail showed a smile of amusement. "No, they are very much real. They just . . . rarely appear. If it wasn't for them Cosmo would be lost in a world of darkness known as the void. It is the darkest sort of element ever known." A silence followed for a second until he continued, "Let us continue this conversation in the nursury shall we?"

Shivertail didn't seem to mind so he led everyone out of his office and into the nursury just down the hall. Shivertail made his way toward the crib then peered inside while Isis and Kali stopped a few feet away from it.

"How many elements are there?" Isis asked from the side of Kali.

"Sixteen," Ignitus answered. He inhaled then continued, "Fire, ice, electricity, earth, poison, shadow, wind, fear, light, convexity, plasma, water, madness, gamma, void, and illusion."

"Illusion?" Isis repeated in question. "That's a new one."

"It's pretty rare," Shivertail butted in. "I have yet to actually see it in action along with the void element."

"Let's hope it stays that way," Ignitus replied.

Then Ignitus noticed someone else's presence entering the room. Two visitors set their eyes on Ignitus first, then Kali and Isis. Kali had the feeling she was being watched because of the awkward silence, so she turned to see a black dragon accompanied by a purple one.

"Ah, greetings Spyro and Cynder," Shivertail cheerfully greeted. He smiled on their appearance then returned his attention to the dragon asleep in the crib.

"Who might you be?" Spyro politely asked, referring to the blue dragoness.

Cynder grinned, "Does that cat ring a bell?"

Spyro cocked a eye as he looked beside the blue dragoness to see the cat Cynder was adverting to. But Isis wanted him to remember just a tad quicker so she happily helped out by speaking toward him. "Hey Spyro, how are you this fine day?" She turned on purpose so the purple dragon could get a good sight of her two tails.

"Oh," Spyro simply went in recognition. "It's you. The talking cat." He looked back at the blue dragon standing next to her. "Erm . . . Kali right?"

Kali nodded with a wide smile, "Yep. It's good to see you two again."

"What are you doing here?" Spyro slowly made his way toward Ignitus's side while Cynder made her way toward the crib near the back of the room. The sun's light was beginning to enter through the window above the crib making the room seem a bit brighter.

Kali made her way toward the crib as well while Isis quietly made her way toward Spyro's side mostly for amusement. Kali looked in the crib to see a gray baby dragon sleeping without a care in the world. His breathing was very quiet. If it wasn't for his chest rising and falling, anyone could have guessed that Star was a lifeless body. He slept in a cute sort of way.

"You remember Cosmo?" Kali pointlessly asked.

"Of course," Spyro replied, sounding offended somehow.

Kali sighed, "Well, he went out last night and I haven't seen him since."

"He's missing?" Cynder quickly assumed. "Have you already went looking for him?"

Kali slightly shook her head side to side, "No. But it's no use now that I know where he is."

"How do you know where he is?" the purple dragon inquired dubiously. He jumped a little when he felt fur rubbing against his front right leg. He looked down to see Isis wordlessly smiling up at him.

"That was the reason why I was here. I know it may sound absurd but I had a feeling that Ignitus was the only one who knew on where Cosmo could be."

Spyro huffed, "So where is he? I might be able to help him."

Ignitus finally joined back in the conversation with an answer, "I'm afraid he is out of reach, even for me. He is trapped in the fairy realm at the moment, along with Myrianda. Before you ask, Myrianda plays a special role with Star so Cosmo went to search for her. But as they were making their way back, they were encountered and overpowered by Phantom. It was by luck that they managed to get out alive for it was the fairies magic that helped them escape."

"So fairies . . . transported them to their world. Why didn't they just transport them in another part of the city?" Spyro cleverly asked.

Ignitus sighed then answered, "Unfortunately the fairies magic are limited in this world. Once their magic is depleted, they must wait up to three days for it to fully replenish. Transporting two dragons into their world drained much of their magic."

"So Cosmo won't be coming back for at least a good twenty-four hours?" Cynder finished.

Ignitus only nodded in response as if he were out of words to say for the moment.

"So this must be Star," Kali quietly assumed as he studied the small toddler.

"Who told about him?" Cynder quietly asked, keeping her voice low so the dragon could sleep.

Since there was company, Shivertail decided to quietly make his leave so he could get some work done. Everything was quiet until he left. Then Kali answered, "Isis told me about all of it. The six and Star here."

"Did she tell you to keep it a secret from the townsfolk?"

"Indeed she did."

_Fairy Realm_

_Day One_

Birds chirped to the perfect morning as the tall luxurious tree tops swayed in the warm breeze. The greenest grass grew on the ground and not a speck on brown dirt was found. The large meadow held many flowers in the ground, all of which were perfect in every way. Some flowers had their unique touch to it as every flower wasn't the same no matter how much you looked at it. Even the birds themselves seemed different somehow. Not a cloud was in the sky to block the sun, but the temperature was just right, just like everything else. Everything in the realm seemed to be perfect.

Cosmo opened his eyes to the grassy scenery, a bit confused on what he was doing laying in the middle of the meadow. He looked around a bit to spot Myrianda laying in the grass a few yards away from him, sleeping from the looks of things. Eventually Cosmo stood to his paws and stretched his limbs as he looked at the scenery. Nothing seemed to be clicking in his head, he had no idea where he was.

"_I swear that Felix is some bad stuff. One swallow and I end up in the middle of nowhere with no clue of where I am._"

Cosmo looked around from his spot for a moment. He was just in one big, perfect meadow surrounded by the tallest of trees. The yellow dragon looked up at the sun for a second so he could guess at what time it could be. It looked like it was around eleven o'clock but he wasn't really sure. He made his way over to Myrianda and shook her shoulder to try and wake her up. But she seemed to be passed out for the time being.

"_Sure is a heavy sleeper. I guess she'll be safe for right now._"

Cosmo left her alone then went toward the trees closest to him. He didn't feel like flying at the moment for he was still trying to figure out where he was so it was just a short five minute walk. When he reached the trees, he went ahead and walked into the woods. He was hoping to run into some civilization so when Myrianda woke up, he would know exactly where to go so he could take her to Ignitus. But as he remember his mission from last night, something clicked in his head. A flashback of pictures flew through his head of the ambush Phantom gave him. Cosmo continued to walk as if he were blind for the moment as he thought back.

"_Phantom almost had me last night. But what happened? How did I end up here?_"

Just a few more minutes passed until Cosmo spotted a clearing up ahead. He smiled, hoping to see civilization when he breached the treeline, but saw something entirely different.

"_What the? Wasn't I just here?_"

Cosmo looked in front of him to see another large meadow, similar to the one he was just in. He looked around then decided to make his way forward, thinking it was just another meadow that he just happened to run across. But as he neared the center, he spotted something that changed his mind. He spotted a pink dragoness laying in the grass. The same pink dragoness that he left earlier.

"_Great. What is this? Velxtra Meadow? Seems like I'm stuck here for the time being because it looks like I'm doing loops. Where's Isis when you need her?_"

Cosmo forced himself to lay down on the soft grass to relax in wait, for it was all he could do at the moment until something came up. Or he hoped something would come up. He didn't want to be stuck in the meadow forever with Myrianda. Who knew what would happen?

The dragon actually dozed off for about an hour before something woke him up. Something was nudging him on the shoulder which made his eyes pop open in hope. But it was only Myrianda.

"What time is it?" Myrianda lowly asked, holding her head.

Cosmo shrugged from his spot, "I don't know." He looked up in the sky to look at the sun again like he did earlier then grew surprised at the sun's position. "Eleven o'clock?" Cosmo said in confusion. "That can't be right. Maybe I'm just looking at it wrong."

"I don't really care if you think it's wrong or not," Myrianda rudely said. "I just wanted an opinion."

Cosmo grumbled to himself, "Seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the grass this morning."

"What was that?" Myrianda nearly yelled but held her head tightly right after.

"Will you consider about easing down on the drinking now?"

"Are you kidding?" Myrianda slowly sat down on the grass where she was, still holding her head while squinting toward the morning light. "Last night was fun, it's the morning's that kill me. So where are we?"

"No idea," Cosmo simply answered. "But I'm afraid we're stuck here for right now."

"Then let's play a game for the time being," Myrianda quietly suggested. "It's called the quiet game."

Cosmo huffed, "I'll gladly play it with you."

It didn't take Myrianda but a moment to realize that was a joke. "Are you saying I'm not fun to talk to?"

But Cosmo remained quiet with a grin.

Time passed as the two of them restfully waited, not even uttering a word to each other. The warm breeze came and went as if it had a schedule to keep up with, but the thing that baffled Cosmo the most was the sun never seemed to move. No clouds ever came into view as far as Cosmo could tell. He even flew up above the treetop to find out, but there wasn't any that could be seen. It was quite unusual. The only thing that kept him in his spot was Myrianda. He didn't want to leave her behind even though he was probably going to end up back in the meadow again.

Cosmo guessed it must have been a total of two hours that passed on by, yet, the sun still remained in its place. It hadn't even moved one inch, which began to worry the dragon. If the sun remained in the sky then wouldn't that make the temperature rise to an unbearable amount? But then again, the warm breeze still blew and the temperature still seemed to keep the cool weather he always liked. Again, this was more than strange, it was like time had come to a halt. What was this place he and Myrianda inhabited? The yellow dragon didn't know if Myrianda cherished the nights as much as he did, but if the sun remained hanging in the sky then Cosmo wanted out of this place. A world without a moonlit night would drive him insane.

As Cosmo stared into the sky, hoping to see a cloud stroll on by, he spotted something unusual. A certain spot in the sky seemed to ripple for a second before it stopped. Drawn in by the strange phenomenon, Cosmo stared up the sky hoping to spot some clue of where they could be. It didn't take long for Cosmo to find a strange golden orb making it's way toward them.

Cosmo stood to his feet in wonder, "_That looks a lot like the orb I saw last night._"

The orb slowly closed in the two dragons, one of which didn't seem to be paying much attention to it. Then the orb began showing some features that Cosmo couldn't have seen in the distance. It wasn't an orb, more like a glowing sort of creature. It almost looked human but it had clear wings which it used for flight. It wore a green sparkling dress and feminine shoes that covered its feet to its ankles. It also carried this sort of golden-orange wand with a star shape on top of it.

"Who are you?" Cosmo asked as the creature hovered in front of Cosmo with a smile of greetings. "You look like a fairy."

"That's because I am," the fairy replied in a feminine voice. "You must be Cosmo."

"How do you know my name?"

The fairy seemed to giggle at the response she received. "I was actually one of the fairies that was supposed to turn your friend back to her normal self. Ignitus sent me along with my friend, Cloe."

"A fairy?" Myrianda went in a weak surprise. "Now I've seen it all."

"Oh, you seem to be in pain," the fairy realized, putting both hands on her wand.

"You think?" Myrianda sarcastically said. "My head is exploding at the moment so if you could keep things down for another hour or so."

The fairy smiled, then acted. She held her wand up high for second, twisted it in a few circles while magic built into the wand. When enough magic was in the wand, she let the spell loose toward Myrianda. A small green ball of light headed for Myrianda's direction making the pink dragoness nearly shriek with fear. As the spell ball collided against her head, the pain she was feeling had disappeared. Myrianda shook her head, then rubbed her eyes as she noticed her hangover was gone.

"What did you do?" Myrianda asked in a thankful tone.

"Healing spell," the fairy replied. "Doesn't take all that much magic to cast so don't worry about it."

"You can cure hangovers?"

The fairy nodded and bowed with a smile, "Glad I could be of some service to you."

Cosmo looked to see the gears working in Myrianda's head. He could just about hear what she was thinking. "_She better not be thinking of using that fairy for money. There isn't meant to be a cure for hangovers for a reason._"

"Anyways,"the fairy continued. "My name is Zoe."

"That rhymes with Cloe," Myrianda grinned. "Is there another friend of yours named Joey?"

"Actually, there is no such thing as a male fairy in this realm," the fairy corrected.

"Then how does the mating work?" Myrianda smirked.

"We're getting off the subject," Cosmo interrupted, not wanting to hear more.

"I'm Myrianda by the way."

The fairy nodded, still smiling like before.

"So where are we?" Cosmo finally asked. "How is it that when I walked through the forest I ended back up at the meadow?"

The fairy flicked her hair then replied, "Well, both of you are actually inside of a painting believe it or not."

"A painting?" Cosmo responded.

"Yes, when you reached the edge of the painting the only place you could have gone was the other side of the painting. So you only ended up looping through it."

"Deja-vu," Cosmo quietly said to himself. "So how do we get out?"

"Well," the fairy began, acting as if she was guilty. "It was me who put you in the painting."

"Why are we in a painting?" Myrianda asked in a rational tone.

"Because most of the fairies have never seen a dragon before. I was only trying to keep them safe without worry."

"We won't hurt them," Myrianda assured. "Unless you want us to."

"Don't get any funny ideas Myrianda," Cosmo murmured. He looked at the fairy to see a frightened sort of look on her face. "Please don't be scared, she was only teasing. She does that a lot."

"Oh," the fairy seemed to ease upon hearing that. "Anyways, I'll tell you on how you ended up in the fairy world."

"Yes, please do I am dieing to know," Myrianda sarcastically said.

So the fairy began, "Me and Cloe were given a message through a magic cauldron that a dragon named Ignitus needed our help in order to help this cat named Isis change back into her original self. He said it was the utmost matter and was a top priority and he urgently needed our help. He also told us the story about the six spirit guardians and mentioned all of their names and descriptions. So me and Cloe decided to travel to the dragon realms by the only way we could. Magic. But soon after we arrived, we ran into you two. You, Cosmo, fit one of the six guardian's description perfectly, so we had no choice but to rescue you. The only way we could have done that was to transport you into our realm. But we can only transport you to places we can remember most."

"So you took us to the fairy realm," Cosmo finished.

Zoe nodded, "I'm afraid by doing so, our magic was nearly depleted. So now we must wait until our magic is fully rejuvenated before we can transport you two back to the dragon realms."

"Why not get some other fairies to do it?" Myrianda suggested.

"Transportation magic is rare and difficult to use. Me and Cloe had to study for nearly a century to get it right. It also takes a lot of magic to transport something like a dragon. The bigger the object, the more magic it takes."

"So your saying none of the other fairies are as experienced at you and Cloe?" Myrianda sighed.

"Unfortunately."

"So how long will it take until you and Cloe's magic is completely rejuvenated?" Cosmo asked, hoping he wouldn't regret it.

Zoe showed some sort of shrug, "Could be a day, five days tops. It all depends on how much rest we get during that time."

"So you better get to bed early tonight," Myrianda forcefully suggested. "I really don't want to spend more than twenty-four hours in this place you call a painting."

"Would you prefer to be moved to another painting?" Zoe thoughtfully asked.

"I would prefer to be moved outside of all the paintings," Myrianda answered back. "Because living in a painting won't work for me."

Zoe scratched her head, "I suppose your right. But I may have to use shrink magic on you two."

"Shrink magic?" Cosmo repeated.

"The hallways of the kingdom your in are kind of small for a dragon, maybe even a bit cramped. I wouldn't suggested trying to crawl through them for you would most likely get stuck."

"Doesn't sound fun," Myrianda said. "So will this take a lot of your magic?"

Zoe shook her head, "It shouldn't take much. An hour or two of sleep will help bring my magic back for that so it isn't a problem."

"Will this spell last forever or is it timed because I don't want to be in the hallways when the spell wears off," Myrianda asked.

"It will last until I cast an end spell on you, which basically stops all active effects of spells cast upon you."

"So when are we leaving?" Cosmo asked as Myrianda stood to her feet.

"Now if you want."

"What about the other fairies? I thought they were scared of dragons?" Myrianda quietly laughed.

"Just tell them you lost a bet and had to use a transformation spell on yourself," Zoe replied with a smile of delight.


	49. Betrayal

Chapter 49

Betrayal

Shrink magic. Cosmo was fairly surprised on how a fairy could just shrink someone down to the size of a fairy and was expecting the transformation to be agonizing instead of painless. Of course, after Cosmo had shrunken down in size by Zoe's magic, Myrianda looked threatening. Cosmo only came halfway up her legs, which of course startled him a bit. The pink dragoness only grinned as she knelt down to Cosmo's small height. If the grass had been much taller, Cosmo's visibility would have been cut down.

"Looks like if we had a race, you would be the one to come up short."

"Enjoy it while you can," Cosmo faintly replied, somehow finding the moment amusing. His voice didn't seem to be as loud as it used to be but she could still hear him without any trouble.

"Your turn," Zoe smirked, turning toward the grinning dragoness.

"W-wait," Myrianda stuttered. "I haven't had my fun yet."

The fairy raised the magic wand regardless, "There's time for fun later." Then she let a spell loose.

_Meanwhile_

The air seemed to be thinner and colder toward the tall clouds as Frederick listened to his own heart beating at a fast and steady rate. He couldn't calm down. It was impossible. He wished Jazz could pick up the pace, but the weight was slowing the dragon. Rita seemed to be enjoying the free flight while Isaac looked a little queasy.

Over the windy breeze, Rita broke the uncomfortable silence. "So who exactly is responsible for attacking our home?"

Frederick nearly grimaced with anger as he was reminded on his sudden return back to the dojo. There was no way to avoid it so he just sighed and mildly answered, "I . . . don't know. I couldn't get a good look at them but I saw the dojo in flames. In any case, we've completed our task we set out to seek."

"I just hope we get there soon," Isaac said in a sick sort of tone. "This ride isn't what I call fantabulous."

"Fantabulous?" uttered a familiar voice.

Rita looked over to see a red dragon with an orange belly and tangerine colored wings. She smiled at his presence. "So Blaze, what brings you here, or you just here to cheer us on?"

The new company didn't seem to be offended. He showed a grin of amusement, "I was actually going to ask you if I could come along, but if you need a cheerleader then I'm your man. Err . . . dragon."

"I assume you are being sarcastic," Frederick replied, finding it humorous. "You may accompany us if you wish. It is your choice to make, not ours."

The red dragon became comforted by the reply he was given. But he still had a few questions to ask. "So this dragon city you mentioned earlier. Are they dragons like me?"

". . . Where have you been all these years?" Isaac said in a degraded voice. No one seemed to pay any attention to him, or just didn't hear him.

"Yeah actually," Rita answered in a surprised tone. "The city is named Warfang and was built by moles actually. Before you ask, yes, the moles talked. The city is full of dragons like you, male and female alike. As a matter of fact, I think a certain season has just struck the city recently. Or about to at least."

"Season? Like . . . winter?"

Rita only laughed in response.

Frederick looked ahead at the tall mountains of the Tathric Range. Jazz seemed to understand all of the directions he gave him without any mistakes and it seemed as if they had made good progress. But the human was growing a bit worried at Jazz. He was nearly panting from fatigue from carrying the three humans on his back for an hour's distance without stopping. Frederick put a hand on the creature's neck, hoping the dragon was going to be able to hold out until they reached the dojo. It wasn't much further. It was only beyond the mountain they were flying toward.

Ten to fifteen minutes passed until the mountain passed under them and Frederick quickly found the dojo, due to the smoke rising from the site. It felt like his stomach churned as he set his eyes upon the mountainside. He quietly told Jazz to fly towards the dojo. From here on out, it would be much easier for Jazz. All he had to do was glide.

Everyone was tense, even Blaze. Everything was quiet, too quiet for anybody's liking. Were they too late? Had his home already been ransacked?

As soon as Jazz landed on the walls of his home, Frederick slid off the dragon's back and landed on the concrete with a thud as Blaze landed beside him. Isaac more than happily dismounted the dragon, glad to be on his feet again. Rita readied her bow then slid off the dragon, landing beside Isaac as quiet as a butterfly. She made her toward the edge of the wall and looked down toward the training grounds below. She gasped at what she saw.

Frederick became worried. Rita would rarely do that. He didn't want to, but he forced himself to. What he saw were bodies. There were bodies just about everywhere he looked. All of them were dragons of different colors. Which confused Frederick. When he looked into his mirror, he saw nothing but black dragons. But when he looked down at the bodies, he only saw very few of them. There didn't seem to be any human bodies, which was a good sign.

"What is this?" Isaac nearly exclaimed. "How did the dragons find us? Even if they did, they should know that we aren't their enemy!"

Blaze looked down at the same sight, finding all the bloodshed more than disgusting, then wondered aloud, "So do the humans and dragons have a disagreement about something?"

Rita unhappily answered, still looking around for anything suspicious. "Long story short, an army of humans attacked Warfang for a reason nobody has yet to figure out. If the dragons saw us, they would probably assume that we are their enemy."

"We should head to the dojo to see if there are any survivors," Frederick suggested, already walking towards the green topped building.

When they reached the front door, Frederick told Jazz to wait outside for now. The large dragon snorted in response but layed down on his belly, saying he understood. Then the human went for the door. With a quick turn of the handle and a gentle push, everyone saw what there was to see. There were dragon bodies in the main room itself as well. Frederick put a hand on his forehead, not wanting to believe this madness that attacked his own home. He felt even more guilty when the thought that he wasn't there to defend it went through his head.

The three humans and Blaze entered the large room, glad to see the structure still seemed to be in good shape. There was still that sign that a battle had clearly taken place. Some of the desks and chairs were broken up into pieces and some supplies littered the hardwood flooring. But not a human body in sight. Maybe everyone managed to survive?

Without any words, Frederick made his way toward the bedroom on the left. He opened a door that stood in the way and peered inside. It didn't seem like the battle was taken in the room for it seemed to be in perfect condition. So he just left it alone and decided to head into the kitchen. Frederick re-entered the dojo and quickly paced his way toward the door on the other side of the room. When he made it, he let out a breath of air and opened the door. But before he could open the door all the way, a force on the other side slammed itself on the door nearly shutting it completely in the process. Thinking it was a straggler, Frederick reached for his sword while barricading the door with his shoulder. But a voice on the other side made him freeze. He couldn't make it out, but it sounded human.

"It's me! Frederick!" he called out, hoping that the voice did indeed belong to a human.

Isaac, Rita, and Blaze began to hear some more voices on the other side of the door along with Frederick. Blaze was the one that was most worried. The humans were edgy and they would most likely assume he was an enemy. He just hoped that Frederick would put in a good word for him.

"It's Frederick," a voice on the other side said. "Open that door this instant!"

Immediately the door was released, letting the humans into the kitchen. Frederick pushed the door open to see his colleagues, all looking exhausted. Some were sitting at the long kitchen table, others were sitting down on the floor, and the one's who had the strength were making sure that no one could get through any of the doors. They all wore light armor, most of which were bloodstained.

The three humans entered the kitchen, letting just about everyone see Blaze that stood uncomfortably on the other side of the doorway.

"Dragon!" someone exclaimed.

Instantly Frederick heard the sound of swords unsheathing. "Wait!" he yelled. "He's not our enemy!"

Everyone still stood tall, looking down at Blaze, who seemed to be more than frightened at the moment. Whimpering seemed to be the most effective thing he could do at the moment.

"Put away your swords," a familiar voice ordered. Aruto stepped in front of everyone to face Blaze, and tried his best to explain himself. "He is not like the one's who attacked us."

Isaac and Rita looked at the gray haired man as he twisted the end of his gray mustache. A habit he did when he was either figuring something out or explaining something to someone.

"The one's who attacked us were possessed and didn't know better. Didn't you noticed that with each dragon you slayed, their scales changed colors?" He turned toward Blaze and showed a surprising grin. "My apologies but all of us are a bit on the edge right now."

Blaze looked more lively to know that they accepted him. "I suppose I would have done the same thing."

"What happened here Aruto?" Rita asked from over his shoulder.

Aruto moaned as his emotions were suddenly sucked dry from him. He turned toward a human sitting on the ground and said, "We were betrayed . . . by Samuel."

The man on the ground grinded his teeth in reaction. Frederick looked at him and took note that this man was Samuel. He wore light armor like the rest of everyone else, his face was thin and his eyes were brown and always alert.

"Samuel?" Isaac repeated. "Why? I thought . . . he was one of us."

"Power!" Samuel yelled out in a snappy response. "He promised me power!"

Aruto deeply sighed in frustration, "It seems that he betrayed us because someone promised him power. I've already guessed that it was the one who sent this army of dark beings after us. Fortunately they failed." A few seconds passed until he continued. "We also had a little bit of help from a red dragon," he said, looking at Blaze.

Blaze shrugged, "Wasn't me, I just got here."

"How did you catch Samuel?" Rita quietly asked, watching Samuel struggle with his hands behind his back. It was obvious his hands were tied with rope.

"He attacked me," Aruto answered, shaking his head in disbelief.

Blaze kept his eyes on Samuel. He seemed to be struggling a lot, which was getting to be quite suspicious.

Aruto turned to Samuel, "Who promised you power?"

Samuel showed an atrocious grin, "You think I'm an open book? You've got it wrong. Once I get out of here, I'm going to kill you first." Samuel started laughing to himself and continued the frightening speech, "Kill you in front of everyone in this room."

Blaze squinted, trying to make his way into the room, keeping his eyes on Samuel. He was still struggling, not as much as before, but something wasn't right. When he entered the room, he finally got a different point of view, then used his ability of eagle eye. Eagle eye allowed him to actually zoom in his vision so he could see Samuel's hands. But they were in the shadow of his body, making Blaze use his night vision as well. It gave him headaches to use both of these abilities at the same time, but he had to take that risk. As soon as the night vision kicked in, Blaze found himself wide-eyed.

"He's escaping!" Blaze yelled. But he yelled a few seconds too late.

Samuel already made his move, somehow freed from the rope, and punched the nearest person in the nose, making him dazed enough for him to steal his sword out of the sheathe. Everyone drawn their weapons and attempted to stop Samuel, but he already shoved his way out of the door with Frederick giving chase. The two of them ran out the front door and onto the concrete walls of the snow-bound land. Samuel ran and ran, but Frederick managed to catch up and tackle him to the ground. Frederick swung his sword around, which was blocked by Samuel's stolen shortsword.

"You traitor!" Frederick shouted.

Samuel only showed a devious grin and managed to kick Frederick off himself, letting him get to his feet, facing Frederick. "Once this petty excuse for a home is destroyed, I will have a power that you will learn to fear."

Frederick found himself grinding his teeth in anger. "This was our home. We made it that. All of us did. And yet, you have the courage to call it petty?" Frederick raised his longsword over his head with both hands, ready to strike. By now, everyone was outside and watching the whole situation happen. It looked like they didn't even take notice of Jazz watching the whole situation from behind them."You attacked your own home, thinking you will receive and power in return. A nonexistent one at that."

"You're wrong," Samuel retorted. "I've seen this power with my own eyes. With it, I could destroy you within seconds." He raised his shortsword, ready to go.

"Too bad you won't be seeing this power ever again."

Samuel noticed Frederick's certainty of his words, then grew angry. He charged toward Frederick with the shortsword over his head, and swung. Frederick swung his longsword as well, making the swords clash against one another. Frederick blocked another high swing from Samuel before he had a chance to attack himself. He swung his sword low towards Samuel's waist, but missed when he jumped back to avoid the attack. Samuel retaliated with another forceful charge forward, swinging his sword in a mad sort of fashion. The swings were basically artless and pretty much straightforward, giving Frederick the chance to block every single strike and attempt to slice him open. It seemed as if this so-called power was driving Samuel crazy.

Frederick dodged to the side, seeing Samuel attempting to stab him in the heart. Missing only by inches, Frederick swung his sword diagonally, but was again, blocked by Samuel. Before he could attack, he was forced to go back into his defensive stance as Samuel threw some crazy attacks, yelling madly the whole time. Samuel had lost it. He had gone insane. Frederick could tell just by the attacks that were being thrown at him. The attacks were wild, untimely, and unskillful. Nothing like Samuel used to be. But Frederick couldn't hardly ever get the chance to attack. It was like Samuel was all over him the whole time.

Finally, Samuel's wild attacks seemed to be paying off for Frederick. Samuel was beginning to tire out and his attacks were slowing down, making it easier for Frederick to block or dodge. Then when the timing was right, Frederick had the change to kick Samuel in the shin with a shattering force, making him kneel to the ground in pain. But he still swung his sword, even more madly than before. Eventually, his attacks began to slow again, giving Frederick the chance to attack again, this time he used his sword. He swung his longsword horizontally and sliced Samuel's left leg, a little above the knee. Blood seeped out the new wound as Samuel yelled in pain. Before he had a chance to attack again, Frederick swung his sword, making it collide with Samuel's. Samuel's sword went flying down the wall and into the training grounds below, where most of the dragon's bodies laid. Samuel looked up at Frederick one last time before Frederick knocked Samuel into unconsciousness, using his bare hands. When Samuel slumped to the floor, Frederick breathed in the cool mountain air, then exhaled a moment later.

"If anything was petty, it was his fighting style."

_Meanwhile_

Spyro laid down on the couch in Cynder's home, reading a book of some sorts. The fireplace was going to give him the light he needed and he was feeling quite comfortable in his position. But just as he began to relax, he felt a presence enter the room. He knew who it was but it didn't stop him from looking.

"Enjoying the book?" Cynder curiously asked, making her way toward the couch.

Spyro sighed as Cynder made him sit up so she could have a place to sit. But nevertheless he answered with a smile, "Yes actually. Who would have thought that it was Ralar who murdered those dragons. It gets better by the page."

A moment of silence passed until Cynder changed the subject. "So . . . do you know what tomorrow is?"

Spyro thought about it for a second, not taking is eyes off the book he held, then finally replied, "I don't know. What?"

"It's the beginning of mating season."

An awkward silence followed. Cynder didn't really know what else to say. She just wanted Spyro to know just in case she felt the effects of the season.

Spyro chuckled. "Oh yeah. Let's hope mating season affects you tomorrow."

"I could slap you, but I love you too much to do that."

"Lucky me."

_Fairy Realm_

Cosmo and Myrianda were given a room by Zoe to stay in the castle. But she also strictly told them to stay out of sight of any fairies at the moment and to stay in the room. It wasn't that the room was small or uncomfortable, it was just the fact of being forced to stay inside which made Myrianda pace back and forth. It was beginning to drive Cosmo insane himself.

"Will you just stop? Just . . . stop."

"I can't," Myrianda responded in a fast tone. "I'm stuck in here. I can't stand being stuck somewhere. I'm claustrophobic you know."

"There's a window right there," Cosmo pointed out. "We're not trapped."

"Yes we are! We can't go outside or we'll die!"

"We won't die," Cosmo sighed. "What is with you? You nervous?"

"Nervous? What makes you say that?"

Cosmo shook his head. He only sat down on the plushy, silky bed and laid back in relaxation. They were going to be stuck in the fairy world for a few days so he guessed he better get used to it. The room was large, but plain in it's own way. There were no couches or furniture in the room. There was a fireplace, a fancy decorated table, an empty bookcase, a glassless window, and the bed Cosmo was laying on.

"Wait, there's only one bed," Cosmo said in realization.

"Dibs," Myrianda called out. It seemed as if Cosmo got her to stop pacing for the floor for the moment.

"I'm not sleeping on that stone floor you can forget it."

"Then sleep on the table," Myrianda joked. "I'm not sleeping on the floor either."

"There's no way I'm moving from this spot," Cosmo assured.

Myrianda thought about it for a second then replied, "Fine. We'll just have to share it."

Cosmo was about to object, but Myrianda already sat down on the bed beside him. He sighed, shrugged, then laid back down. "You better not try anything funny."

"You don't trust me?"

Cosmo was about to reply but something else more serious came into his thoughts. He got the chance to tell Myrianda the truth about him and her. He knew she was a human, but she still thinks the yellow dragon she's smiling also used to be like her. He sat back up and turned his head toward the pink dragoness.

"Hey Myrianda, there's something important I have to talk to you about."

Myrianda's facial expression changed to one of curiosity and confusion. She grew more serious as she said, "What about?"

Cosmo inhaled, then exhaled the answer. "I'm just like you."


	50. She Looks Harmless Enough

I thought about on a solution for the problem of my story taking too long to get down to brass tacks. Here's a long chapter with some fighting action, one of which you probably wouldn't expect at the end of the chapter. No don't look! You have to start at the beginning of the chapter. Review or you will face the wrath of her, down at the bottom of the chapter. Well no not really. Review if you want to not because you have to. Forced reviews aren't satisfying at all.

Chapter 50

She Looks Harmless Enough

The mountains of the Tathric Range had a unique icy chill to it once the sun broke out over the horizon. Repairs were being made to whatever damages were done to the dojo as best as the remaining eleven associates could handle. The power Samuel mentioned crossed their minds as they made the quick reparations to their home. What was all of that about? A quench for power turned one of their own against them. None of them saw it coming, not even Aruto.

Frederick was taking a break from the job for the moment. He stood on the western side of the walls surrounding the dojo when he sighed to himself.

"You okay Frederick?" A female voice asked.

Frederick turned to see one of his colleagues in a gray fur coat with red tinted pants. She had her hood over her head to protect herself from the slow falling snow.

Frederick kept a bare look when he answered as he looked back over toward the mountains. "I'll be fine Kindra. I was just caught off guard."

Kindra kept her concerned look as she took her place beside Frederick. She looked at the same sight he did. "You don't have to worry about it anymore. Samuel is being punished for what he did."

The swordsman crossed his arms, looked toward the ground with his eyes shut. "That is true, but it's not like it matters. It's not like we can let him go free. You saw how corrupted his mind was."

The blonde haired woman thought about it for a moment now that he brought it up. Frederick couldn't have been more right. "So what do you suppose we should do? Execute him?"

". . . We could exile him."

"Exile?"

Frederick nodded then looked back over at Kindra. The girl could tell he wasn't kidding around by his look. "Is Samuel still on the wall?"

Kindra gave an uneasy nod.

The swordsman continued, "Can you go tell Aruto our idea?"

"But what about that dragon?"

"You mean Jazz?"

Kindra took a second to nod. She didn't realize it had a name.

"Jazz is harmless . . . as long as you're on our side."

"But what about that red dragon that helped us during the battle?"

Frederick shook his head. "Don't know about that. Couldn't have been Blaze so it must be our guardian angel. Just be glad he was around and was friendly."

"I know his name," Kindra indicated. "Before you explain, he told me during the battle. When we were beginning to become outnumbered, he just came out of nowhere and took out a bunch of them by surprise. During the battle, we happened to get close to each other. I asked for his name . . . and he said it was Jaggle."

"Anything else?"

Kindra shook her head, "Unfortunately when the battle was over, he disappeared before we could talk to him."

Frederick could see the worry in her face. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and told her, "Sounds like a guardian angel to me."

The two of them looked out unto the mountains for a few more moments until Kindra delivered the news of their plan to Aruto.. Frederick planned to give the traitor a visit to see how his punishment was going. He still couldn't believe on how there had been a traitor in the dojo the whole time he was gone. It certainly made him angry to think about it.

Frederick made his way down to the base of the wall and to a closed in area where the training grounds were. It was here the swordsman found Samuel chained to a wall. He was also suspended in the air just enough so his feet wouldn't touch the snowy stone below. But being hung on a wall wasn't the punishment. What Aruto did was something painful. He stripped Samuel to nothing but shorts, then had him chained to the wall last night for the cold air to nearly freeze him. If it couldn't have gotten worse, Aruto took the liberty in dumping a bucket full of cold water, soaking the man from head to toe. The water froze onto Samuel's body quickly, making any movement whatsoever painful in every way.

Frederick looked up at Samuel, almost feeling sorry for him. But he convinced himself there was no way he was going to show sympathy for Samuel. With a smile, he left the man in the rusty chains. If he stayed up there for much longer then there would be no need for exile. Maybe that was Aruto's plan.

_Day Two_

_Fairy Realm_

Cosmo was the first to wake up to the morning sunlight gleaming through the open window. Opening his eyes, he found himself in an awkward position. Myrianda had Cosmo all wrapped up in her arms like a stuffed teddy bear. It definitely woke the yellow dragon up quickly.

"_What the heck? Was she dreaming something last night?_"

Cosmo was going try to move but he found himself with a stone wall behind him. He rolled his eyes at his luck. Somehow he got stuck without an open end to escape from. He sighed with bitterness, trying to think of some way to get free of the pink dragoness' grasp.

"_Maybe I should just wake her up. Then listen to her yap her trap off about personal space for the rest of the day._" He looked around with his eyes the best he could, trying to spot any easy way out. "_What if I act really fast. She won't have time to wake up and realize what's going on._"

Cosmo smiled then took hold of Myrianda's arms, ready to give it a shot. He took a quick exhale, then acted his plan out. He snatched Myrianda's arms back, letting Cosmo free of her grasp. Myrianda began to show signs of life as Cosmo jumped off the bed, over Myrianda, and gracefully landed on the other side with a smile. He turned to Myrianda, but something surprised him. Myrianda reached out with both arms and wrapped Cosmo's neck tight. Then just as quick as that, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully all over again.

"_You've got to be kidding._"

_Later _

Cosmo walked down the halls of the fairy castle, finding the décor interesting in it's own way. There were a lot of paintings in every hall he walked down. The flooring was covered in velvet carpet wherever he went and golden chandeliers hung from the tall ceilings to give light unto the hallways. There were a lot of rooms and different corridors which turned the castle into a maze.

"_Hope Myrianda won't mind waking up to a bed post,_" the yellow dragon thought. "_Is she usually that clingy? It's kind of weird._"

"Cosmo!"

The reptile turned around to see a fairy heading towards his direction. He stopped walking and turned around to greet her with a grin. He became startled at first because of how big the fairy was, but he quickly remembered that he and Myrianda were shrunk down to fit in the castle. The fairy was practically his size now. "Hey Zoe."

The fairy showed a smile as she landed in front of the dragon. "We had a fairy meeting last night about you and Myrianda. You two are free to go outside as long as you promise not to cause trouble."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Cosmo happily replied.

"Not all the fairies know about you two so don't worry if you get weird looks from anyone. It would be faster if you two just went out and explored the forests a bit than to just tell everyone one by one."

Cosmo nodded, "I understand. So is there anything I should know about the . . . outskirts of the castle?"

Zoe gave it some thought then answered, "As long as you don't get lost you will be fine. There aren't any wild animals that you should worry about. . . . Oh yes, if you two ever get hungry then ask any of the fairies in the castle about the kitchen. All of the castle fairies are aware of your existence so you should be fine."

"Okay," Cosmo responded. "Thanks for the update."

Zoe smiled then turned around and went back about her business. Cosmo was glad to know that his presence was welcome in the fairy realm as long as he kept his best behavior.

Then it suddenly hit Cosmo. He was lost in the castle and had no idea where the way out was. "Zoe wait!" the reptile yelled down the halls.

_Meanwhile_

Myrianda finally woke up to something rather embarrassing. She was glad that Cosmo didn't see her hugging up on the bed post like a three year old would, otherwise she would never hear the end of it. But then she realized that Cosmo was gone. What if the dragon saw her in that awkward position she was in?

"Now I'll never hear the end of it," Myrianda said to herself as she forced herself to her feet. "Cosmo's gonna nag me to no end about it if he saw. Speaking of Cosmo where is he?"

She looked around in the room a bit before heading out into the halls. The more time she spent in the endless passages of the castle the more lost the dragoness became. It all looked the same to her. When she was beginning to worry, she finally found hope of escaping the labyrinth. As she turned around a corner, she spotted a way out of the castle. An open doorway which led to sunlight. Perfect.

Myrianda made her way over toward the sight with a grin of relief. When the sunshine hit her eyes, she squinted until they finally adjusted to the new light. Then she was a little surprised at what she saw.

She found her way into a huge garden of some sort with an open roof overhead to let the sunlight inside. Colorful plants and flowers were nearly everywhere she looked, it was almost like she was in an indoor forest. The aroma was relaxing to the point where it couldn't even be described. Myrianda wasn't a gardener but she knew that these plants didn't exist in the dragon world. They couldn't have, she would have noticed.

"Can I help you?" A female voice asked from behind.

The pink dragoness turned and spotted what she was thinking, a fairy. "I was looking for a way outside if that's okay."

"Oh, you must be Myrianda," the fairy said in realization. She let out a quiet giggle then continued, "I'm Zoe's friend Cloe. The one who helped teleport you into our realm."

"Cloe huh. You aware that your name rhymes with Zoe?"

"Ironic isn't it?" Cloe rhetorically asked with slight amusement. "Anyways, have you been told that you are free to leave the castle whenever you wish? We had a meeting last night and came to the conclusion that as long as you or Cosmo are on your best behavior then we will let you loose."

Myrianda nodded in defeat. "Alright," she sighed. "While you're here, do you know where Cosmo is?"

"He's outside somewhere, come on I'll show you the way out."

That was all the dragon needed to hear.

_Meanwhile_

The outside air was just so crisp. So clean. Something about it seemed different that Cosmo seemed to love. Maybe it was because of the different kinds of plants that gave out it's sweet aroma unto the land. The way things were going, maybe this unexpected trip wouldn't be so bad after all.

Outside of the castle, there were many fairies tending to the plants, surveying any sort of deterioration, or just enjoying the warm day. Of course, Cosmo received some strange looks from the fairies making him feel uncomfortable. So he turned toward the green filled forest and began making his way there. It was there he hoped to enjoy the scenery without worrying about the staring eyes.

After avoiding a few puddles of water here and there, Cosmo finally began to feel alone. It was a little weird to take a walk in a forest as little as Cosmo was. The trees looked huge to the dragon which constantly reminded him that he wasn't as big as he used to be.

"_Oh that's right, it rained last night._"

_Previous Night_

Cosmo was taking a look out of the window into the dark depths of the woods behind the castle. It was exceptionally dark out there, making Cosmo use his night vision ability to see what there was to see. Reason why it was dark because it was raining. Nothing bad, just your average storm with the lightning here and there. The dragon loved it when it rained.

A bolt of lightening streaked across the clouds, lighting up the lands for a quick second. Thunder followed. The yellow scaled reptile turned toward Myrianda to see what she was up to, when he spotted her curled up on the bed. Cosmo took a closer look. It almost looked like she was shivering.

_Present Day_

Myrianda finally found the exit of the maze, which felt like it took hours to escape. She silently thanked Cloe for the help then began to take a look at the scenery. First thing she noticed was the puddles of water on the ground. Then something clicked in her head. She remembered the storm last night.

_Previous Night_

The pink dragoness heard the sound of thunder, making her close her eyes in response. She threw her paws to the sides of her head while she was curled up on the bed. She didn't know how Cosmo could stand the lightening. She already seen what it could do, which was why she was afraid.

"You okay?"

She stayed motionless. If it wasn't for her breathing, she could have easily been mistaken for dead. All she wanted was that lightening to go away and leave her alone. As she closed her eyes, she felt something take hold of her shoulder. As if she had no choice now, she turned her head to see her roommate with a concerned look on his face.

"Everything alright?" he politely asked.

Myrianda looked him over, thinking he was just being considerate for show. "It's nothing." Cosmo looked at her with those eyes of his, making her turn her head, avoiding eye contact.

The dragoness' friend sat down on an open space on the bed, saying in a low tone. "It's alright. You can trust me."

Truth was, she already had her trust in him. He was the one who protected her during the fight with Phantom, not to mention that he told her the truth about him being a human like her. So she sighed and finally said, "It's the thunder."

Cosmo looked out the window into the darkened sky. "What about it?"

Myrianda closed her eyes, showing off a snarl in the process. "I would rather not talk about it."

_Present Day_

_Dragon Realm_

Yin yawned as she sat back in her comfy seat behind the counter of the inn, bored as usual. She tried reading but just couldn't get into it today. Business had been a little slow lately but as long as Drad payed her and let her stay in the inn she would be fine. Eventually the white dragoness couldn't keep her eyes open. It was getting to be a bit too quiet in the large room. She did take notice of the markings on her upper front limbs. It was something like Cosmo's darker shaded diamond, but her's was an oval. Drad said something about it being special but she thought nothing of it.

Finally, she heard a noise like someone fiddling with the front doorknob. Then the door finally came open. She looked at who caused it to see a black dragon close the door behind him as he began to make his way toward the counter in a casual fashion. Yin didn't suspect any danger.

"Welcome to the Lakeside Beauty how can I help you?" Yin asked in a fashionable manner.

The black dragon showed an uncomfortable grin, staying silent as ever.

Yin's smile immediately dispersed at the discomfited silence. She knew he heard her so there was no reason to repeat herself. The dragon was just playing games with her evidently.

The white dragon leaned over the counter and said in a solid tone, "If you don't want a room then I'll have to ask you to leave."

The black dragon's smile disappeared upon hearing what she had to say. Then Yin noticed something. The dragon seemed to be releasing some kind of dark smoke from his scales. It was barely noticeable. Then she finally realized she was in danger.

Yin acted fast and tried to make a run for the stairs beside the counter, but the dragon beat her to them in a flash. Yin stopped in her tracks then eyed the front door, only to have the dragon rush her without hesitation. The white dragoness started the run, but was knocked down by the dangerous stranger. Before she knew it, she was facing up with the black dragon staring straight down at her.

"What do you want?"

The dragon only showed her, and in the way she wasn't hoping for. The fiend used his claws to slice Yin across her open neck, spilling blood all over the floor below her. Yin tried to breathe in the shivering pain she was in, but couldn't. The innocent dragonness couldn't believe it. She was taken down without any remorse. But before everything went dark, she heard the front door open followed by yell of anger.

_Meanwhile_

Ignitus looked into the crib of Star, seeing that he was still sleeping the morning away. He also seemed to have changed colors the other night. The baby dragon was green with a white underbelly now. It looked like it would be a while until Star would be able to control the ability. Until then, he would just have to wait. He knew there was an evil out there already and a new planet was beginning to form in space. It troubled him to know that there was nothing that could be done at the moment. Again, he would just have to wait.

"Still sleeping I assume?"

Ignitus could tell it was Shivertail just by the voice. "Yes," he simply answered.

"He's usually up and about by now," Shivertail indicated as if he were surprised. He made his way to the crib to see for himself. "I see he has changed colors as well."

Shivertail was showing a morning smile, but Ignitus seemed to be worried about something.

"What is it?" Shivertail couldn't help but ask.

Ignitus shook his head, "Convexity is spreading. It's victims are being forced to become dark beings for the new planet's master."

Shivertail almost looked like he had blown a fuse in his head. He stayed silent while Ignitus continued. "As we speak, a new planet is being born in space."

Shivertail chuckled, "Planets don't just appear out of nowhere."

Ignitus just stayed silent. Shivertail would learn to believe him sooner or later. It was just too soon at the moment to explain the whole process.

"What about Spyro and Cynder? Can they help us with the dark being's?"

Ignitus almost seemed to chuckle at that moment. "Do you have any idea what today is?"

Shivertail shrugged, "Sometimes I forget."

"It's mating season," Ignitus awkwardly answered.

"Oh," Shivertail quietly replied. "So those two are . . . busy at the moment?"

"I assume that is rhetorical."

_Lakeside Beauty_

Yin opened her eyes to find herself sitting behind the desk of the inn she was working in. She rubbed her eyes then looked at herself in confusion. She was fine. There wasn't any scratches on her whatsoever nor was she in pain in any way.

"That was some dream, it seemed so real."

She wiped her face with her paw then looked around the room, completely awake now. Little did she know about her psychic ability.

"A little too real for my liking. Maybe I'm just working too hard."

Yin tried to relax, but found it impossible to accomplish. Then she heard a noise at the front door making her heart skip a beat. Someone on the other side seemed to be fiddling with the doorknob before he finally opened it. The one who caused it was a black dragon, who closed the door as he entered the empty room. The dragon looked around and spotted no one in the room whatsoever. He then spotted the stairs beside the counter then made his way toward them in a irregular fashion. As soon as he was out of sight, Yin showed herself from behind the counter.

That dragon was dangerous, but Yin couldn't fight him. She hardly had any fighting experience aside from watching the cheetah's training sessions and Cosmo fight Phantom that night during the festival. She also began to grow worried. There were dragons living in the rooms upstairs. What if that black dragon tried to hurt them?

The white dragoness finally decided to sneak her way upstairs to see what the stranger was up to. She peaked around the corner and spotted him in the hallway, now with jerky movements. Was this dragon just crazy? The black scaled dragon looked around the hallway until his eyes ran across toward Yin's direction. Then his eyes stopped at the stairs. Yin nearly froze but forced herself to retreat back around the corner. Did the dragon see her? She didn't dare to even think about looking back around the corner, so she listened instead. The sound of footsteps could be heard alright, and they sounded like they were rapidly heading toward the stairs. It was then that Yin realized she had been spotted.

The white dragoness ran down the stairs and toward the front door. Just as she went to reach for the doorknob, it began turning on its own. Yin became startled as the door opened to reveal a red dragon with an orange belly.

The dragon instantly noticed the worried look on Yin's face. "Is something wrong?"

Yin was about to answer but she heard the black dragon coming down the stairs behind her. She turned toward them making the red dragon look as well. As soon as the black dragon showed himself, he stopped at the base of the stairs at the sight of the new company.

"He's trying to kill me," Yin calmly answered, glad to have someone around.

The red reptile grinned, "Is he now? Well no one messes with a friend a gets away with it."

Then Yin realized who this dragon was. She looked him over then guessed, "Torch?"

"Long time no see Yin," he replied with confidence. "With both of us this bloke shouldn't be a problem right?"

Yin didn't seem to sure at first. She looked at the dark dragon with uneasiness then looked back at Torch. She saw his grin. Then it was like his confidence rubbed off on her. With her new found assurance, she turned toward the new found enemy and finally answered. "Right."

The black dragon looked angry, and because of that he charged toward Yin first. Yin froze, not knowing what to do. She never deliberately attacked someone before. The white dragoness closed her eyes as the black dragon lowered his head for his horns to do the work, until she heard Torch act.

Torch charged the cocky dragon from the side, knocking him to the ground. The black dragon grunted as he quickly stood to his feet and tried to attack Yin again with another charge, just to be knocked back down by Torch. Yin watched as Torch fought to protect her.

Torch growled at his opponent, "C'mon you good for nothing scum. Attack me and leave her alone."

The black dragon sounded like he just hissed back at Torch then went for Yin yet again. Torch groaned as he stepped in front of Yin, defending the dragoness. The black dragon stopped in his tracks and stared straight into Torch's eyes. Torch grinned back at him.

"That's right. I'm your challenger. Let's see how tough you are."

It seemed as if the dark being finally got the picture as he focused on Torch. Torch motioned toward Yin to head on out the front door so she wouldn't get hurt, so she obeyed. As she headed for the door, the dark being noticed and charged toward her. The red guardian stopped him in his tracks by charging him in his side yet again. By now he must be hurting in his sides.

"When will you stop being so hard headed?" Torch rhetorically asked as Yin safely made her way outside. "If you want her you'll have to get through me first."

The black dragon growled as he looked up at Torch with glaring eyes. He stood back to his feet with unsteadiness, still showing the same provoked look from before. The red dragon grinned, seeing the dark being was angry with him. Good.

The dangerous stranger attacked first. He charged Torch, swinging his untrained claws wildly toward his foe. The red reptile brought out his flames and let the dark being have it before he could get any closer. The fire smothered the dark dragon, forcing him to stop in his tracks and retreat back. At least he still had enough sense to use defense. Torch was beginning to think this battle would be all too easy for him.

It seemed to take a few seconds for Torch's foe to charge him again, horns down this time. It also caught Torch off guard. He was expecting him to change tactics and use an element against him. The red reptile only smiled and watched the dark being approach him with those curved horns of his. The red dragon then hopped up onto his two hind legs just as the dark being closed in, then Torch seized a hold of his foe's horns. The shock of the impact was felt through his arms as he slid back a few inches before Torch was able to grip the wooden flooring with his back claws, still holding onto the dragon's horns. Before the black dragon could escape, Torch unleashed his fiery wrath upon the enemy before he muscled it out and tossed his foe to the side nearly with ease. While he was on the floor, the red reptile took advantage of the situation and pinned the dark being to the ground. The enemy struggled to throw Torch off his back but he wouldn't even give him an inch to move. He had all of his limbs pinned to the ground. When the red dragon nearly had enough, the dark dragon slapped Torch across his side with his heavy tail, sending a jolt of anguish through his body. It only took one more hit to knock Torch off of his back, letting him free of his grasp.

Torch's entertained look from before turned into a more serious and deadly expression as he noticed the dark being was smarter than he thought. No more games. It was time to end this before he could escape.

The dark dragon charged, as did Torch. They met in the middle with horns clashing against each other, trying to overpower one another. Torch began to push with all of his might and began to feel success as he began to move the black dragon back a few steps. But as Torch used his full strength, so did his enemy. The dark being forced himself forward finding success as he did so. Torch dug his claws into the wood below, growling at himself for being overpowered just then. He couldn't keep it up for much longer. His head was beginning to ache from the straining he was putting into his horns. It was now or never.

The red reptile bared with his head pain as he clawed his way forward, forcing the dark being to move back. When Torch had the leverage he needed, he threw the black dragon back with his horns, knocking him down onto his scaly back. Before he could recover, Torch sprinted towards him with his claws ready to strike, then threw himself towards his open underside.

Torch heard his claws puncture the skin of his opponent as they sunk into his gut, letting the blood seep out of the new deadly wound. The dark being coughed in pain as the red dragon began to see the life leave out of his eyes. It would have been a victory, until he looked down.

How did this happen? How could have he been so careless? These questions raced through his mind as he felt a new pain rush through his body. Somehow, the dark being managed to wound Torch with his claws when Torch went for the final blow. The red reptile looked down at his chest to see the dead dragon's claws in his chest. It wasn't long before he began to see his blood dripping out of his new wound.

"Torch! No!" Yin yelled out as she ran into the building.

Torch showed a weak smile as she rapidly approached him. "It's okay. I . . . took care of him for you."

"I didn't want you to go this far!" the white dragonness exclaimed in fear.

The red reptile feebly coughed. "Tell Micha . . . I'm sorry. Tell her that . . . I should have been . . . more caring for her."

Yin shook her head in near tears. "You still have time to care for her. You'll just have to pull through for her."

"What happened?" someone asked in a loud surprise from behind.

Yin turned to see a tan colored reptile, twice her size approach her. "Drad! We need a doctor! Hurry! My friend is hurt!"

Drad hesitated but obeyed. He ran as fast as he could toward the exit while Yin stayed with her friend. She only hoped her boss was fast enough to save his life.

_Fairy Realm_

Truth was, he had no idea where he was. He was too busy trying to remember last night that he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going. He thought about retracing his steps by following his pawprints, but as it turned out there was no sand. The whole forest was covered in leaves and the greenest grass he ever seen.

"_I could use that music box,_" Cosmo thought to himself. "_I haven't spoke to Kaida in a while. And she could probably help me remember what happened last night. For some reason I'm drawing blanks._" The worried dragon looked around himself. The same scenery of trees, leaves, and the occasional flower bush was all there was to see. "_Wait, didn't Myrianda say that she was afraid of storms. No it was lightening that was it. Oh right I remember now. Sad story._"

_Previous Night_

Myrianda sighed and told her story. "Well, during one day my father and I were working on a small two seated plane we called the 'Duster'. It was one of those planes that some people would use to quickly spray chemicals on their crops so bugs wouldn't eat and destroy them. It wasn't much of a problem since my father worked as a mechanic, so we were progressing on it pretty well. He even said he would teach me how to fly it someday. But that all changed that day. Once we finished the repairs, a storm began to show itself. I told my dad it wasn't a good idea, but he ignored me and took the plane out for a test flight anyways."

The pink dragoness clenched her paws as she continued. "The storm came in fast. Within minutes, it was raining and lightening was flying in the clouds. I waited for my dad to come back so I waited for him in the fields as it rained."

Then Cosmo noticed a tear form in the corner of her eye. He wanted her to stop if it was going to cause her heartache, but she continued before he could mention it. "As I saw my dad fly the Duster over the fields I was standing in, a bolt of lightening came so fast and struck so quick that it made me blind for a few seconds. I rubbed my eyes and looked into the sky . . . then I saw the Duster only had two wings on one of it's sides. Before I could believe what was happening, the plain crashed into the ground. . . . My dad didn't make it."

Cosmo was quiet for a good while. He didn't know what to say. The reason Myrianda was afraid of lightening was because it took her father away from her. The yellow dragon understood.

As a bolt of lightening boomed through the window, Cosmo could see Myrianda clench her paws even tighter in fear. He didn't know what else to do other than tell her that it was all going to be alright.

_Present Day_

Cosmo shut his eyes as he remembered the moment. He felt bad for his new found friend. She watched her father die right before her eyes. He couldn't have imagined what it must have been like to go through a time like that. He lost his friend Harris in the war back when he was in the army, but not a parent.

As he walked, he suddenly began hearing something like someone chopping wood with an axe or hatchet. Curious, the reptile made his way toward the noise. As the sound grew louder, Cosmo finally found what was causing it. Someone seemed to be chopping the base of a large tree. As the dragon walked closer, he noticed this person was tall. Really tall. It was at this point that Cosmo wished he hadn't been shrunk down. Zoe said there were no sort of wild animals so he guessed this person was friendly. Whoever it was almost looked human except his legs looked like a goat. There seemed to be another one right beside him. This one looked female.

The next thing Cosmo knew he heard something snap. "Timber!" he heard. The yellow scaled reptile looked up at the tree to realize that it was falling. His immediate action was to run. He ran as fast as he could but due to his small size, it was almost like he was taking a slow stroll. As the giant tree closed in toward the grassy surface, Cosmo leaped with all of his might. When the tree slammed against the ground, the winds the tree brought as it collided sent him flying a little further. But it didn't help as one of the tree limbs collided against his side, knocking him back toward the ground with rejection. His side ached as fell to the ground, only to have the tree limb pin him to the ground. The dragon felt humiliated for having a small twig pin him down.

Cosmo groaned as a sudden rush of pain come to his head. He brought a paw up to his head then wiped off a red ooze. He realized it was his own blood. He guessed the tree limb whacked him on the head, or his hit his head when he hit the ground. The tree limb also seemed to have fallen on his chest, making it a tough time to breathe.

"_How unlucky. Wrong place, wrong time._"

Then, for some odd reason, a spark went off in his head. Somehow, this accident helped him remember on how he was transported into the dragon world.

"_The war . . . I think I remember now._"

But as he did, he fell into a sleep where he dreamed the memory.

_Middle East_

_33 21' N 44 25 E?_

Steven was in trouble. He couldn't find his M16. After he barely escaped the tanks, which had killed his buddy Harris, his primary weapons was missing. It must have been thrown off by the explosion of the shack he was just in.

Steven looked down toward the trenches to see an enemy soldier making his way toward him, carrying an AK-47. Steven reached for his sidearm, thanked God it was still there, then took aim at the soldier as the enemy took aim at him.

Steven fired first and hit the enemy in the shoulder, making him drop his automatic weapon. Steven didn't hesitate to fire again, this time in the head. As soon as he was in the clear, Steven wobbled up to his feet and slowly made his way toward the fallen enemy weapon. He bent over to retrieve it, along with any magazines the dead enemy had on him. As soon as he looked back up, another soldier noticed his dead comrade. But a little too late as Steven pulled the trigger on his new weapon, spraying bullets into his chest until he was dead. As soon as the body fell to the dirt, the U.S. soldier heard foreign language behind him in the trenches. He turned to face three enemy soldiers making their way down the trench in a hurry.

Seeing his chance, Steven checked the body of the soldier he filled full of holes for any sort of explosives. The only thing he found were two grenades. Looked like he was in luck.

Without any more hold-ups, Steven pulled the pin on one of the grenades, cooked it for a quick second, then tossed it toward the enemy soldiers who were still in the trench. As soon as it landed, Steven heard one of them yell "Grenada!" before it detonated into a explosion. There wasn't any more noise coming from them after that.

Steven looked around for any sort of escape from the sight of the tanks across the trenches as he layed low behind the pile of rubble that used to be a shack. There were too many tanks looking toward his direction for him to make a run for it. He had no choice but to sit tight, hoping that the airstrike to arrive soon. It was his only hope as of this moment. He deeply let out a tired sigh, ready to get this whole situation over with.

But it seemed as if relaxation was out of the question as Steven noticed another enemy soldier walking up the sandy slope up to where he was. He readied his weapon and aimed it toward him then pulled the trigger with only one thought rolling through his head. It was either him or the enemy.

The automatic weapon kicked back in recoil as Steven fired several bullets from the barrel, hitting the target in chest and his arm. The enemy dropped his AK-47 as he fell to his knees toward the ground in near death. With his last breath, he unsheathed a pistol from his side and tried to aim it at Steven. Steven grew troubled as he aimed his own weapon again and pulled the trigger . . . only to hear a click. His eyes grew wide as he realized he had to reload. The U.S. soldier closed his eyes in defeat, knowing he couldn't reload his weapon fast enough before the enemy fired. It only took a slow passing second for Steven to hear the pistol to discharge, making him clench his teeth. It was over now. Just as quick as that, he was a goner.

A few seconds passed, but for some reason Steven didn't feel any pain. He only felt a warm breeze coming from the north and the rumbling of the enemy tanks. He forced his eyes open and was more than surprised when he saw another U.S. soldier offering him his hand. Or her at that. A female soldier saved his life.

Steven gladly took a hold of her hand and she happily helped him to his feet. Steven noticed she was equipped with a few grenades, a sidearm, and a pump action shotgun, which she was currently holding. Her green army uniform was covered in dust and dirt, probably from the trenches. It was obviously where she came from.

"Glad to see another friendly face around here. I thought I was the only one left."

Steven immediately began to reload his weapon, thankful that he was given another chance. "Thanks for that. You saved my life."

The red haired woman shrugged, "It was nothing. But this isn't the place for chit-chat alright? Listen, the tanks will not fire at us. I was working with the radio earlier, about to order an airstrike when I overheard someone's transmission had already gotten through and an airstrike was already on the way. I also managed to rig the radio to find and listen to any enemy transmissions or frequencies and I overheard that they were ordered to conserve ammo until they reached the base itself."

Steven cocked an eyebrow, "So they're planning on blowing our base to bits along with anyone inside?"

The woman nodded. "That's right."

"Then we should get moving," Steven suggested in a tired tone. "If that airstrike is delayed any longer then we'll be bombed along with the tanks."

Immediately the two of them made their way down in the trenches, ignoring the enemy tanks. Steven only hoped she heard right. If this girl was wrong then both of them were in trouble. The duo ran as fast as they could down the trenches and away from the tanks, when Steven heard one of them fire. His instant reaction was to grab his companion and dive down onto the hard dirt beneath them. Both of them grunted as they landed. At the same time, the tank's shell collided with the ground right beside the trench. The small explosion kicked up the brown sands into the air as Steven quickly thought if they should keep moving or turn back and try something else.

"I thought you said that they were conserving ammo?" Steven nearly stormed, still laying on the ground with the red haired woman.

"I'm not the best translator alright? They didn't fire at me when I was making my up the trench so I assumed I translated it correctly!"

Steven heard another tank fire a shell, forcing him to bring his head down for cover. The shell hit on the other side of the trench, making Steven clench in fear. Fear of dieing. He didn't want to die here.

"Well I made a promise. I promised my parents that I would one day walk through their front door safe and sound again." He took hold of the girl's hand. "I'm going to keep that promise no matter what I have to do. You ready?"

She didn't look to sure at first glance. But when she saw Steven's confidence shining on his face, she grew convinced. "Alright. Let's do this then."

Steven nodded. As if they read each others minds, the two of them took off running down the trench as fast as they could possibly travel. Any enemy soldier that they saw was soon taken out by either the girl or himself so they would have one less thing to worry about. As the two soldiers heard a tank shell being fired, they continued running without slowing down hoping they missed. A tank shell rushed on by the two of them as they ran, colliding against nothing but dead grass, giving the two brave comrades more time to run.

Finally, the duo spotted a bunker up ahead in the trenches. Seeing their chance for escape, they busted with speed as they headed toward their goal. Just a few more seconds. That was all they were asking.

As they neared their destination, Steven heard another tank fire a shell toward them. His whole body tightened as the tank shell zoomed right on by their heads, thankfully missing them again. The enemy must have had poor training in aiming lucky for them. But he began thanking his luck a little too soon.

The tank shell came into a collision on the ridge above the bunker they were heading into, making the entrance very unstable. Steven took off running as did the girl he was with. The bunker was only a few more yards away. Neither of them worried about anything behind them.

"Run!" the girl yelled out, firing her weapon at a nearby enemy soldier Steven didn't spot.

He was already doing that but Steven could tell her compassion towards him. She also seemed to be falling behind as she fired at another soldier who took his fellow's place.

As Steven finally leapt into the bunker, he turned around just in time to see his companion one last time before the entrance finally gave away. Rocks fell, blocking the entrance and only exit from the bunker, trapping and protecting Steven from the enemy.

"No!" Steven yelled out. He ran to the rocks, seeing some light finding it's way through the cracks. He looked through one of them to see the girl on the other side, more than helpless from his help. He could see her fire her shotgun at another enemy soldier in the trench with her but his visibility was very limited.

"Stay quiet!" the girl commanded. "It's alright."

Steven did his best to move the heavy rocks out of the way, but it was no use. The rocks were too heavy and wedged into one another to move. He looked through a crack to see the same tank that was firing at them from before take aim at the girl. "But what about you?"

The girl showed a smile as she closed her eyes. She turned toward the rocks for Steven to see that smile. He couldn't explain it. It looked like she was somehow . . . satisfied. She unhooked her grenades from her belt and managed to find a small gap for her to shove them through to Steven. Why did she do that?

The girl finally said, "Just tell my friends back home, Melissa said she was sorry and sends her warmest regards."

Then the tank fired.

Steven didn't remember much after that other than the blast having enough force to knock him back off his feet. After that, everything went black for a while.

He didn't know what happened to that girl. Melissa. She gave herself up for a complete stranger like him. Why? Why would she do that?

During his time in unconsciousness, Steven had some strange dream he never had before. He was in a place covered in darkness that seemed to echo each step he took. He looked around as he walked, somehow sensing a presence with him.

It turned out his senses were correct as a voice emanated from a distance. "The city of dragons needs a hero, will you be their savior?"

Steven cocked his eye, "What are talking about? City of dragons?"

"We are seeking courage much like yours. The city of dragons need your help, will you be their savior?"

"I don't even know what you are talking about. City of dragons? Do you mean China?"

"Yes . . . or no?"

Steven gave it some thought for a good while. If someone needed his help, he was more than glad to assist him. But being a hero? He was lucky maybe but what's with all this hero business. Truthfully he didn't know he could become such a thing. But yet for some reason, he still nodded his head.

"Yes . . . I accept."

_Present Day_

He opened his eyes to find himself in some sort of a dark large room. It was huge. He also found himself laying on top of green leaves on an overhead shelf in the room. It looked like the whole structure he inhabited was made of logs and wood. A green hammock hung in between two posts in one of the corners of the room, obviously where someone slept at while a few chairs were neatly placed around a wooden table on the other side of the room.

Cosmo sat up, rubbing his head with a groan. "_What happened? Where am I?_"

"Oh, you're awake," came a female voice.

Cosmo looked toward the source on his left to see the same person he saw from the forest. She was sitting back in an old chair with her furry legs crossed. "What's going on?"

"You talk?"

"What were you expecting?"

The girl showed a grin, "I wasn't expecting you to talk. I've never seen an amphibian like you before. I'm just glad you are okay."

"I'm a reptile. A dragon to be more specific. So what are you some kind of goat?"

The smile disappeared as she corrected him with a disapproved look, "I'm a faun you dork."

"Oh sorry, but you thought I was an amphibian so does that make us even?"

The faun's smile returned to her face as she replied. "Of course. My name is Elora. Elora the faun."

"Cosmo. Cosmo the dragon."

_Dragon Realm_

The two story hospital was quiet. Yin sat in one of the many empty chairs in the spacey lobby, waiting for the news of Torch to arrive. It was taking entirely too long for her liking. It should have been her instead of Torch. She saw it in that dream she had.

"You don't understand! I have to see him now!"

Yin looked to see who was causing all the racket. She could have gasped at who it was. A pink dragonness stood at the front counter with sky blue fur growing on her spine. She recognized who it was and felt even lower about herself.

"I'm sorry ma'am," the male dragon behind the counter said in an apologetic tone. "There's simply nothing I can do. I know it's hard but you'll just have to wait like her."

Yin's eyes grew as he pointed at her. Her heart beat faster as the pink dragon looked her over. The pink dragon began to make her way over to her in a stomping march. Yin could almost see the anger in her eyes. "Wait! Micha I can explain!"

"What happened?" Micha nearly yelled. "I wait for Torch to get home only to get a message from a random courier that tells me that my mate is in the hospital!"

"Please," Yin pleaded. "Let me explain."

"Did you have something to do with it?"

"No! I was being attacked and Torch saved my life!"

"You couldn't save yourself?" Micha exclaimed, pacing the floor in front Yin. "What kind of dragon can't defend herself?"

Yin felt her throat begin to choke up. "I . . . I-"

"Just like during the festival, you couldn't defend yourself! You probably don't know a thing about fighting!"

A tear began to fill the white dragon's eye. She closed them to try and hide it from the angry reptile in front of her, trying to at least look tough for her sake. "I'm sorry Micha," she quietly apologized.

However Micha continued to rant as if she didn't even hear Yin. "Torch better pull through for your sake!"

"I said I was sorry," she repeated as a small teardrop began to roll down her cheek.

"Oh so now you are sorry? So you're sorry for getting Torch put in the hospital? You're sorry for not being able to fend for your own self?"

"Micha!" Yin yelled out at the top of her lungs. Words couldn't describe the wave of sadness falling over the poor reptile. She jumped to her feet, letting the tear fall from her cheek and onto the clean marbled floors below. "You are being unreasonable! I can't just sit here and let you yell at me for the decision Torch made! I was going to help but he told me to stay back!" Micha was shocked as Yin continued, still yelling the words. "It should have been me! I saw it!"

Another tear hit the floor as Yin ran out the hospital as fast as her trembling feet could take her. "_It should have been me._"

_Meanwhile_

The streets were getting a bit busy considering it was getting near noon. A small furry figure made her way down one of the local alleyways to avoid being stepped on, stared at, picked up by random toddlers, and surprising the countless number of dragons that she could talk back to their stupid remarks about her tail.

"Hey, what is that thing?"

"That's a cat stupid."

The black cat turned toward the right to see that she was passing by two gray scaled teenage dragons. Funny, she didn't even notice them.

"What's it doing here?" the one of the left asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," the cat smirked.

Both of the dragons jumped to their feet in surprise and awe. The black cat could have giggled if she hadn't seen that reaction so many times.

"Ahh! It talks!"

"It has a name," the cat replied in amusement. Even though she had seen this so many times it still seemed to entertain her just the same. "Isis asks if you two know where the closest restaurant is located."

The two teenagers just sat there, still amazed on how Isis talked. The cat suddenly had a displeased look as she noticed they weren't answering her back.

"Hey! Dumbo's! I asked you a question!"

Finally, the one of the left shook his head of his trance and answered a moment later. "There's Lateef's down this alley. He sells all sorts of food. When you reach the end of the alley you make a left and you should see it."

The cat's smile returned upon hearing the news. She kindly replied back, "Thanks. Wasn't so hard was it?"

Isis turned and made her way down the alley to follow the teenager's directions. Meanwhile, they just sat in their place in awe, still frozen in their spots from the surprise they had.

"Please tell me you saw what I saw."

"I think I did but I wish I didn't."

The black cat made her way down the alleyway, smiling to herself. She had this strange craving for seafood lately and Kali ran out of it last night, courtesy of Isis. But for some reason, the cat couldn't help the feeling that she was being watched. She looked back as she walked to see the teenager's were no longer in sight, maybe it was just her.

She continued her walk and could see the end of the alley up ahead, just as the teenager said. Soon, she would be enjoying a plate of seafood. She licked her lips as she thought about it. But that strange feeling was coming back to her. She looked around but no one was around.

"My cat instincts are telling me that someone is here," Isis said to herself. "Cat instincts. Probably the reason behind the seafood."

Isis sighed then said out loud, "Alright, whoever is following me, show yourself. I won't hurt you."

Then a black dragon finally showed himself from the overhead rooftops. Isis silently watched him as he jumped down into the alleyway, blocking her way to Lateef's. The black dragon had one of the most plainest looks the cat had ever seen. It was like emotion didn't even exist in the reptile. One of the first things that failed to escape Isis's eye was the black smoke rising from the dragon's scales. The smoke dissipated quickly in the air and was barely visible, but it was a sure sign that this dragon was a dark being.

"Ah, I knew I would run into one of your kind eventually. I wouldn't mind if you stepped to the side so I could get a bite of fish."

The black dragon stayed in his spot. His red eye twitched but that was about it.

"I guess that's a no. So I suppose you're here to get rid of me so your evil master can carry out his wished without the six being a nuisance?"

The dark being growled in his reply, then charged toward the helpless, two tailed cat.

Isis sighed, "I guess that's a yes. I'll try to take it easy on ya."

The black reptile swung his claws at Isis like a madman, seeming desperate to be rid of the cat. When the timing was right, Isis took off with sudden speed, right between the dragon's legs, safely making it to the other side of her opponent. The dragon turned right back around and raced straight back to her. As the dark being got close, he began swinging his claws again. Typical. But since Isis was so small, the dark being had to basically crouch down so he could get to her level. Which was perfect.

Isis avoided the attack simply by pouncing on the dragon's low shoulder. She hooked her claws into his scales as she showed a grin as the dragon dumbly looked on his shoulder.

"Hi there," Isis casually said. She sat perfectly perched on his shoulder.

The dragon growled and swung his claw toward the cat without thinking. As soon as he did, Isis leaped to safety as the dragon's claws impaled the dragon's shoulder. His only response was a grunt, then he forcefully pulled his claws back out of his shoulder, spilling some of his red blood in the process.

"Sorry," Isis began, getting the dragon's attention. "Just because you're a citizen of the city doesn't mean I'll let you loose. You are a threat. And you're in the way of my seafood."

The dark being hissed in reaction. He began his charge toward the cat. Isis grinned as he did so. When the black dragon was close enough, he swung with both of his claws with all his might. He was sure he had her that time. But yet, he didn't feel it. The dark reptile looked down and around himself. The cat was gone. How?

"Yoohoo! Up here!"

The black reptile looked up on top of a nearby building to see the cat standing over the edge, mocking him.

"Too slow! Gotta be faster than that if you want to catch a quick cat like myself!"

The dark being growled quite loud in his anger. He spread his black wings with a twitch in the leg, then leaped upwards. He flapped his wings for a quick second then landed on top of the two story concrete building, aggravated at the annoying pest. But as he looked around, the cat was again, no where to be seen. The only thing he saw was some rubble and rocks on the roof so he looked back down in the alley.

"Of course I'm down here!" Isis called out back down from the alley. "What were you expecting?"

Isis grinned in delight as the black dragon seemed to be outraged. Her pranks were beginning to get on his nerves which was what she wanted. Provoked attacks were always reckless and foolhardy.

"Hey I also like to mess with him. You know what he was thinking earlier? She looks harmless enough. Now he sees the mistake he made." Isis smiled. "Alright let's dazzle and amaze."

The black dragon had enough of her nonsense. He attacked with a charge, hoping to trample Isis to death. Of course, he missed. He was too angry to even bother to aim his charge. But the cat still seemed to disappear out of thin air at the last second. It was beginning to confuse the dragon on how she was moving so fast. He turned back around to see the cat sitting down on the stone ground with her back turned. She was looking at him from over her shoulder.

"You thought you had an easy job when your master told you to go after me." Isis giggled to herself then continued. "You thought wrong."

The dark being growled, but he stopped as he felt something small hit him on the head. A piece of rubble from the roof he saw earlier bounced off his head and landed on the ground in front of him. He looked back up at the cat as another piece of rubble, a little larger than the previous one fell right in front of his face.

"You see, I may be a cat, but I've learned something over the past few days. I have the ability of dragon time and telekinesis. I may not be able to use an element, but the abilities work just fine." A large piece of cement rock fell from the overhead roof making the dark being look up. A tad too late. The rock fell on his tail, breaking the bones inside along with trapping him. Isis continued. "If you somehow survive this, then tell your friends that they'll need to do better next time."

The dark dragon growled at the cat as loud as he could before the largest piece of rubble fell from the roof without warning. It struck the dragon on the head, crushing his head in the process. The piece of rubble must have weighed hundred's of pounds as it cracked into two halves as it landed on the stone pavement below. Whatever was left of the dragon's head was crushed between the two.

Isis sighed. "Hmph. I was expecting something a little more challenging than that. Oh well. Time for some seafood."

She turned and made her way down the remainder of the alleyway and turned left just as the teenager suggested. Meanwhile, the teenager's watched the whole battle from one of the nearby rooftops. They couldn't believe their eyes.

One teenager asked the other, "So uh . . . do we tell anyone about this or not?"

"You kidding? That cat could kill us!"

"I don't know about you, but I don't think I'm ready for this alcohol."

The teenager's looked down in between them. A tall bottle of alcohol sat in between them.

"We should just get rid of it. If a cat can kill a dragon just as easy as that, I'd hate to see what my parents would do if they found out what we have."

"No kidding. Let's just leave it here. I'm not going to drink that stuff for as long as I live."

"Agreed."

So the two minors flew off, leaving the bottle laying on the rooftop. Whether the cat realized it or not, she saved two lives just then.

Meanwhile, Isis was at Lateef's getting some strange faces from the dragons that surrounded her. She was just waiting in line in like the rest of them, waiting to get her order of fish like she wanted. While she did, she looked around herself. The outdoor restaurant seemed to be quiet all of the sudden. Nearly every dragon at the tables were staring at her.

When it was Isis's turn to order, she hopped up onto the counter, surprising the blue scaled dragon known as Lateef.

"Ack! Shoo!" Lateef tried to blow the cat off his counter as if she were a mosquito.

"Hey," Isis interrupted. "Is that how you treat all your customers?"

"Cu-Customer? You . . . talk?"

Isis rolled her eyes, "Just get me some fish. Make it snappy. I would have been her sooner if it wasn't for a certain somebody."

"But . . . can you pay for it?" Lateef thoughtfully asked.

Isis deviously grinned, "If I give you my address can you send a bill?"

Lateef looked even more surprised if it was even possible. "Address. I-I guess so."

"Good," the cat replied. "So get cookin'."

Lateef looked stunned for a moment before he shook himself out of it, mumbling something voiceless in the process. Isis took a deep breath as she turned to look at the scenery while she waited. Just your basic city square with some shops and stalls. It didn't seem to be very busy right now, in fact it seemed a little quiet.

"Hey!" Isis yelled at all the dragons who were still staring at her. "If you keep staring I'm gonna have to open a shop! You act like you never seen a talking two tailed cat before! Eat your blasted meal!"

One by one, the dragons obeyed. They eventually returned to their meals but still gave the cat a few random looks every now and then while she waited on the counter for her fish to cook. The cat sighed, knowing the trouble would be worth it in a few minutes.


	51. Yin's Comeback

Chapter 51

Yin's Comeback

Myrianda stared at herself in the puddle's reflection. She sighed, recalling the moments she had with Cosmo the night before. It wasn't like her to open up like that to someone she just met. But somehow she felt like it was safe to. Quaint, but she was actually glad she shared that story with someone.

A cool breeze blew making the greenest blades of grass wave in one fluid motion. The pink dragoness took a deep breath then quietly stood to her feet. She took a good look around herself before moving on into the deeper depths of the forest. Cosmo seemed to be a difficult dragon to track. None of the local fairies had seen him. Some of them even seemed frightened to even talk to the reptile. That, of course, made it even more difficult. For once, Myrianda was beginning to hate all of the grass growing in the woods. It made it impossible to find tracks so she scratched that idea. Her best option was to fly. Her small size, due to Zoe's magic, would make it easier to travel though the forest by air. So she decided to go with that idea for now.

Myrianda extended her wings, leaped over a mud-puddle, then flapped to get airborne. The cool breeze began to blow once more from behind, helping her get in the air. As soon as she was high enough, she entered the captivated forest.

The search at first seemed to make time walk on by. But the more time it took, the slower it seemed to pass. The pink dragoness looked for clues and patches of sand that could have some paw-prints of her new found friend. Of course, the forest was so perfect, there wasn't a spot to be found. It was beginning to make her frustrated.

"There's no way I'm going to be lost in this fairy world by myself. If I'm going to be lost, I'm taking someone with me."

The further she flew into the forest, the taller the trees were. It allowed her to safely fly higher without hitting any of the giant branches, but she was still cautious about it. It was right about now she was beginning to dislike the magic that was cast upon her. She was moving so slow and the slightest breeze that happened to come by was a nuisance to her progress if it was anywhere but behind her. The dragoness was doing a lot of flying but it seemed as if she were going nowhere fast.

Becoming fatigued after an hour of continuous flying, she decided to land in a clearing of fresh grass. She came into a soft landing to find the grass was high enough to come up to her neck.

"Well this is just great. Grass is too tall. Walking in this would just be too much trouble. And who knows what kind of wild animals are in this world." Myrianda couldn't help but thinking about what she said. Of course, it only made her more worried about Cosmo. She let out a deep sigh, spread her tired wings, and began to fly again. "You better be somewhere nearby. I didn't plan on spending my day playing hide and seek."

The dragoness continued her flight, pushing onwards, despite the winds that desired to bring her back down. It was a difficult fight but she managed to fight through the weariness. If Cosmo was having as hard as a time as her then he could have found a path or opening to rest his wings. Or maybe there was a path in the forest the whole time and the dragoness just wasn't looking in the right place.

Eventually she came across such a thing, making her sigh in relief. As she landed on a dirt path, she happened to hear some noises rising over the tall trees. Of course, there wasn't any way the curious dragoness could ignore the sign of life. So she made her way towards it.

_Meanwhile_

_In the Dragon Realm_

"And you fought him off? And won?"

"Of course. What would you expect from a special cat such as myself?"

The blue dragoness eye'd the cat, "Under normal circumstances I would have a hard time believing you Isis. Especially since you defeated him without a scratch on you. But I guess I have no choice."

Isis grinned, "You're darn right, Kali."

Kali rolled her eyes as she flopped backwards onto her couch. It was looking as if it was going to be a hot day so she didn't even bother thinking of getting some more firewood from the market. "Don't you think you can be overconfident sometimes?"

The cat hopped up onto the couch beside her friend and curled up into a comfortable position. "I don't know what you mean."

The dragoness sighed, not even thinking about responding to that. It was almost as if she was unaware of what Isis said. Which happened to catch the cat's attention almost immediately."

Isis looked up at the dragon with worry, "Is something the matter?"

Kali was oblivious at first but came to her senses when she noticed the cat was staring her in the eyes. "Do what?"

"Is something bothering you?"

The dragon turned toward the clock on the wall. It was nearly noon. "I'm just worried about Cosmo. I was hoping . . . that he would come back soon."

"Kali," the cat replied in an extended voice. "I know what you're thinking. And you can't."

"Why not?"

"He's not a dragon like you. You know that."

"I know, but-"

"But nothing," the cat interrupted. "Even if he considers it, what will happen when the role of the six is over? We will have no reason to be in this realm anymore. Leaving you all by yourself with a child that can't even see his own father because he's from a different realm."

Kali was deathly silent. Not even her breathing could have been heard by the cat's superior hearing. If she didn't know better, Kali was holding her breath.

"Perhaps I was a bit too straightforward there," the cat said apologetically. "Sorry."

"It's alright," Kali lowly responded. "I guess I wasn't thinking ahead."

The dragon quietly stood to her feet and made her way to her bedroom. She quickly shut the door, making Isis flinch. Now what? The cat was unsure of what to do. Talk to Kali or leave her be?

Isis sighed. "Too soon. I knew it was."

The cat forced herself to jump off the couch and make her way to Kali's closed bedroom door. Now that she had her abilities, door's were no problem. As the cat looked up at the door, the handle turned on it's own, opening the door. Kali wasn't surprised to see the cat behind it.

"I'm sorry Kali, I should have been more sensitive about it." She hoped the dragon sitting on the bed with her paws in holding up her head would understand.

"You are right though," the dragon murmered. She lifted her head to talk more freely, "He's a human. And it just wouldn't be right. And my child. What would become of him?"

Isis shook her head, "It's none of my business, I shouldn't have even intruded to begin with. It's not my choice to make. It's yours and Cosmo's."

The cat didn't expect that to cheer Kali up but she did the best she could. She turned to make her leave when Kali stopped her. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Out," the cat simply answered. "The only way I can help you is to leave you alone to make the choice.

Isis continued her walk, leaving Kali by herself in her room to ponder her thoughts.

_Meanwhile_

She didn't know where she was. Nor did she care. She felt horrible. Yin never intended for Torch to get hurt to fight her battles. It all just happened so fast it was almost like she didn't have enough time to blink before it was all over. And now one of her very few friends was laying on a hospital bed. She didn't even have a clue if he was going to pull through or not. The wound he sustained looked pretty bad.

The dragoness remembered what Torch told her on the way to the hospital before he slipped into unconsciousness. He loved Micha and wanted her to know that, but Yin wasn't sure if she would be able to go back. She didn't even know where she was.

"Excuse me miss, are you alright?"

The sudden presense startled the young reptile. Through her tears, Yin looked up to see someone she didn't expect. It wasn't a dragon. It was a human. A female to be more precise.

"Wh- who are you?" Yin managed. Her voice was trembling as if she were scared.

The human wore a dark blue cloak which conceiled most of her identity but from what Yin could see, she had brown hair, green eyes, and had a soft but confident voice. Yin also managed a glance at the hilt of a shortsword on her side as she knelt down beside her.

"I'm not here to hurt you," the human quietly assured. "The name is Myrina."

The name had a close resemblence to Myrianda which happened to come by Yin's thought. "Your name is strangely similar to a friend of mine."

"Is that so?" The human paused for a moment then continued. "So what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"I was up on the rooftops when I heard crying. Is something the matter?"

Yin shook her head no but couldn't keep it in. She looked the human in the eyes and could tell that she wasn't just asking that to be considerate. "My friend Torch is in the hospital because of me."

Myrina could see the hurt in the dragoness' eyes. It wasn't the best sight in the world either but truthfully, it wasn't the worst. "An accident?"

"I was attacked by this black dragon and Torch saved me. But he was severly hurt. I don't know if he's going to pull through or not."

Tears began to make their way back down her cheeks as she retold the small tale of what happened. But retelling the story wasn't going to solve anything. Yin was convinced that nothing could help Torch out now.

"It's all my fault," Yin continued beating herself up. "It's all because I don't know how to fight. I might as well be the one who hurt him."

"Hey," Myrina began as she put a comforting hand on the dragon's shoulder. "It's not your fault. I may have just met you but I can already tell you are not the type of person who would intentionally hurt someone. It's all going to be alright."

A few quiet minutes passed. The only noise was the occasional breeze that somehow made it's way into the alley Yin was in. It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Finally Myrina asked, "This black dragon you spoke of . . . what did he look like?"

Yin came to life as she answered, "Well, he was black all over. He had these red, twitchy eyes. And it almost looked like you could see black fumes escaping his scales. And he never spoke a word the entire time, even when he was dieing." Yin took a few deep breathes to calm herself. She seemed fine for right now.

Myrina shook her head in skepticism but knew she was telling the truth. "As much as I hate to believe you, I have to. I knew this was going to happen but I thought we had more time until they started showing up."

"They?" Yin retorted. "Who are they?"

Yin stood to her feet as Myrina told her the news. "Dark beings. A long time ago there existed a powerful magician by the name of Ismeral Nexis. At first, he was a grand sorcerer and knew almost every spell in the book. Illusions, fire spells you name it. But there was one line of sorcery he had yet to master. This line of magic was simply known as the void. When Ismeral begun his study of the void, the councel approved at first. But when the other residents began to disappear, the councel immediately noticed. They sent some agents to spy on Ismeral as he studied the void and discovered something that was more than shocking. Ismeral was kidnapping people and using the spells on them. The effects of the void was so powerful that it was changing them. It changed them into slaves under his control. When the councel found out, they immediately banned the practicing of such magic and exiled Ismeral from the land."

Yin looked around herself to find the alley was still just as empty as it was before. "So what does Ismeral have to do with these dark beings?"

"Don't you see?" Myrina began in question. "Ismeral is back and wants to destroy the councel for exiling him using the practice of the banned magic, void. These dark beings you're seeing are the dragons he has kidnapped and took control of."

"But that was ages ago. The councel surely can't still be around right?"

"Correct, but Ismeral doesn't know that. The practice of the void magic has affected him in some ways I can't explain. All I can tell you is that he still thinks the councel is still in existance and if he has to, he'll destroy everything to get his revenge."

"You mean the whole city?"

"Not just the city, this whole side of the planet."

Yin grew wide-eyed, "What?"

"He almost succeeded once if it wasn't for the hero. No doubt he's going to try again. I could tell you the whole story but-"

Myrina was cut short by a noise from behind her. She slowly turned her head to come face to face with the very thing she was just talking about. A dark being standing on the other end of the alleyway, staring at her.

"Well speak of the devil," Myrina whispered to herself. "Get behind me."

Yin saw it too. And as soon as she laid eyes on it, the dark dragon charged after them.

The dragoness didn't have much time to think so she only did what she was told and took cover behind Myrina. As the cloak came off to reveal Myrina's black leather armor, she unsheathed her sword and charged with a quick spring to her step. Before Yin knew it, the two were at it. Myrina swung her sword, making the dark being stop in his tracks to evade the blade's point. The sword whooshed on by the tip of his nose, it was a wonder it didn't harm the enemy. As Myrina brought her sword back around, the dark being attacked and leaped at Myrina. As in instinct to avoid the dragons death grip, Myrina swung her leg in a roundhouse kick, landing straight on the dragon's cheek. Powerful enough to knock teeth out, the blow sent the dragon flying to the side. The enemy was still standing as he emitted a deep growl.

Myrina frowned. "Can't say that was painless. I'm still learning after all."

The dark being could have cared less for any speech. He was already provoked by the fact a human was fighting Yin's battle. Even Yin knew what the dragon's real purpose was. To get rid of her.

He attacked Myrina without any hesitation with his claws, teeth, tail, whatever could have been useful. Myrina did her best to dodge or block any attack that was thrown at her. She would rarely get her chance to attack due to the enemy being relentless and not giving her a chance to. The human nearly found herself in the defensive the whole time. Even she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up.

When Myrina finally found a quick opening, she vertically swung her sword at the dragon's side. She could feel the sword wounding the dark dragon as the sword managed to find it's way through the tough scales. But it didn't do much good. As if he didn't feel the pain, he jumped his opposer, knocking her to the ground, knocking her weapon out of her hand in the process. The impact of the concrete below her was enough to knock the breath out of her. But even worse, she had the enemy snarling in her face ready to strike.

"NO!" Yin yelled. She charged toward the dragon as fast as she could, but it was too late.

The dark being swiped his claws like mad, all over Myrina. She shouted out in pain as the claws tore through her leather armor and into her skin. In just a few moments, she was gone. Yin couldn't make it in time. She stopped in her tracks as the dark being looked back up at her. He growled at his target, then charged.

Then in a split second, Yin was watching the whole thing all over again.

Myrina was alive, and she was fighting the dark being. It happened again. Yin saw what happened before it actually happened. She saw the future. And it would come true if she wasn't involved.

Yin looked up just in time to see Myrina wound the dark being with her sword. Yin knew what was going to happen next. Now was the time to act.

She began her desperate charge, not even thinking of her own safety. When she heard the sound of Myrina's sword falling to the ground, she ran even faster. The dark being was snarling in Myrina's face, ready to end her life, until he looked up to see the white dragoness rushing him. Before he could act, Yin leaped and tackled the dark dragon of Myrina. The human didn't even know what just happened.

Myrina forced herself off the ground to see Yin battling against the dark being. "What are you doing?"

When she realized the situation she just jumped into, Yin began to get panicky. She wasn't much a fighter and yet, she was in a brawl against the enemy.

Before she could get any more thought out, the dark being snarled and charged for her. Yin was frozen. Throwing herself into harms way the way she did wasn't such a bright idea after all.

"Get out of the way!" Myrina ordered.

The white dragon's attention snapped onto the situation at hand, and as if were upon instinct, she knew exactly what to do. She dove to the side into a roll, making the dark being slow to a stop as his horns missed her just by inches. Yin stood to her feet within a second, turned to meet the dark dragon in the eyes, then suddenly she felt an intense heat coming up from her throat. She opened her mouth and flames rushed out, covering the dark being. Yin could hear him groaning as the flames scorched him, then the fire dissipated as she stopped. The dark being looked weaker but was still able to fight. He growled and began swinging his claws as he began taking his short steps toward Yin. His crazy movements was just what Myrina was expecting from someone who was under someone else's control.

Yin was able to evade the crazy attacks, and soon she felt something else in the pit of her stomach. It was cold, freezing even. As the dark being closed in, Yin couldn't keep the feeling within her any longer. She opened her mouth and a blue frigid air whooshed out, covering the dark being. The dark being wailed as Yin heard the sound of something freezing almost instantly. When she couldn't go on with the glacial attack, she ceased. When the fog cleared up, Yin was staring the dark being straight down. But he was frozen solid.

The white dragoness remembered on how one of these dark spawns wounded Torch, and she just couldn't hold it in any longer. With her tail, she whacked the frozen dragon with enough force to shatter him into plenty of pieces. It was done. She got her revenge for what they did. Yet, she still didn't seem satisfied. Torch was still in the hospital so this didn't solve anything. It only made Yin feel worse about herself. She could have defended herself after all. Now there really was no excuse on why she let Torch fight her battle. It just wasn't fair.

Yin turned to see if Myrina was alright. She was. She had her sword sheathed and she was putting her cloak back on her back.

"You did very well. What's your name?" Myrina politely asked. She sounded as if she was surprised on how Yin handled the situation.

The white dragoness looked down as if she was disappointed at herself. Even her voice sounded low-spirited. "It's Yin."

Myrina pulled her cloak, making sure it was good and tight. "Alright Yin. From what I was able to see you do, I can tell you are more than able to take care of things. If it wasn't for you I may have just died. Thank you."

Yin slightly nodded with a frown. Her voice was still low, "It was too bad I couldn't have saved Torch too."

"You did what you could then. Just think of what you can do now," Myrina suggested. "I'll see you around."

Yin picked her head up, sounding more livelier, "Hey, where you going?"

"If someone see's me then there will probably be more trouble. Since the war, dragon's haven't been too fond of humans."

"So why did you help me?" Yin wondered aloud.

Myrina was quiet for a few quiet seconds. She eye'd the shattered remains of the dark being behind Yin, then look back at her. "You could tell you wasn't like everyone else. The reason I was here was because I was scouting for trouble like this. We have to keep the dark beings from kidnapping other dragons."

Now Yin was quiet. Myrina could tell she was in thought. "I'll see ya around Yin."

And like that, Myrina climbed the side of the building using handholds as if she were a pro, then was back on the rooftops.

"Hope your friend gets better."

Yin looked up at Myrina and showed the first smile, whether it was fake it or not, the human had ever seen from her.

_Hospital_

_Room 110_

"Static! Yashmira! Double time!" Delilia ordered. The blue dragoness was hard at work. Things had calmed down ever since the major catastrophe struck Warfang. That tornado was something not even she was prepared for. Ever since then it seemed like the hospital became more livelier. Which wasn't necessarily a good thing.

The yellow scaled dragon known as Static quickly paced through the doorway and into the room along with Yashmira, a gray scaled dragon who eye'd the patient on the bed.

"What have we got?" Static asked, looking the patient over. Ever since the storm, he had been taking the deaths in front of his face, less and less serious.

Yashmira looked on a nearby table where a medical document laid. He took a look at it and answered, "According to this, Torch here got into a tussle with someone else. He is suffering from a chest wound and-"

"Was," the blue dragoness known as Delilia answered.

Static cocked an eye, "Was? What does that mean?"

"He's not suffering anymore."

_Later_

_Tathric Range_

Frederick stood on top of the stone wall in front of his home, scoping out the land in front of him for anything suspicious. Guardsmen was an important job, especially since the dark being's knew of their existance. He was also worried about Myrina. Aruto sent her on her first solo mission into the city of Warfang. Lately, they had been going in and out of Warfang nearly constantly because of the dark beings that were roaming about. Whether the residents knew about it or not, they were in danger. And for every dark being they killed, it was nearly like murdering a citizen of the city. But battle is sometimes unavoidable and then the unthinkable happens.

It was in the afternoon, maybe around four, when Myrina finally returned. That was some relief but Frederick was still worried.

"You alright mate?"

Frederick grinned, "I've been better Blaze."

The red scaled dragon sat down beside Frederick, looking over toward the distant city. "What's wrong?"

A few silent seconds passed. The cold breeze blew, the light snow fell, but Frederick it still couldn't get his mind off the sudden attack on his home. "It's nothing."

"Is it Samuel?"

The swordsman shook his head. "It's Warfang's current state of affairs. Almost all of the residents have no idea what's going to happen."

Blaze understood what he meant. "Perhaps it's better that they didn't. I would have to say that if they all knew then they would get panicky right?"

"Ah, I missed that part," Frederick nodded. "Yes, you're right. But what some of us would give to be clueless about this upcoming cataclysm."

A silent moment passed until Frederick couldn't help but ask, "May I ask why you called me mate earlier?"

Blaze was actually quite surprised to hear that. For someone so smart to ask that, it caught him off guard a little bit. Then again this a different world so he just went with it. "Err, it's just, you know, a way we call a friend."

"Oh I see," Frederick replied in understanding. "Just for amusement, tell me a sentence with some words you think I wouldn't know."

Blaze could tell Frederick was bored and was begging for something to do. He understood what he meant and it took him only a few seconds to harvest up something for him. "O'right mate. I'll bite. But first you gotta tell me the blokes you call dark beings. I'm sure after you're done I'll tell you a ripper sentence aye?"

Frederick couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know where you learned to talk like that. It was, let's say, ripper aye?"

Blaze couldn't help but chuckle. He was about to say his reply but he heard someone fussing over about something else behind the two of them toward the dojo. They both turned to see Aruto bickering at the dragon Jazz about something. Curious, Frederick began to make his to him to find out what the problem was. Blaze wasn't doing anything at the moment so he tagged along behind him.

"I told you before, if you gotta go, you go somewhere else," Aruto complained toward the oversized dragon. "The whole world out there is where you can do your business, but within these walls is excrement free zone."

"What's the problem," Frederick sighed as Aruto noticed his presence.

Aruto drooped his shoulders. Clearly he wasn't happy about something. "Jazz, as you call him, decided to do his business behind the dojo instead of somewhere else."

As if he should have pieced the puzzle together before, Aruto looked up at the dragon. "It's not like he could have known better. He's not very intelligent."

Jazz groaned as if it were his response for 'yeah right'.

Aruto sighed, "Why doesn't he just go back to where he came from? Having a dragon his size might draw unwanted attention from others."

"As if the dark being's weren't enough," Blaze silently added.

Aruto ignored it and continued, "If the dragons of Warfang realize that we're up here, who knows what sort of conclusions they would jump to."

Frederick looked up at Jazz to see a saddened look upon his face. Frederick wasn't too happy himself at being reminded about all the problems they were having. Repairs were still being made from the attack. "I can see it in his face Aruto. If he wanted to leave he would have done it by now. So if he doesn't want to leave, maybe he can stay here."

"But we don't have a place for him. If there's a blizzard, he'll be stuck out here."

"Then why not build one? We have the material right? And if we don't I'm sure our clients in Warfang could oblige."

"Those clients you speak of are for emergencies."

"And this isn't? Think about it Aruto, Jazz could be very helpful if we're attacked again, which is certain to happen again. He helped us when we were searching for the Parched Desert and sure that he can continue on to."

Aruto stroked his gray mustouche, deep in thought. "That is true." Then with breath of fresh air, he nodded, "Alright. But I'm putting you in charge of it's construction. I want the building within the walls and easy to get to from the dojo. The closer the better."

Frederick nodded, "O'right 'll be ripper you can count on it."

Aruto's mouth opened halfway, words unable to come out. He then shook his head and walked away, leaving a grin on Blaze and Frederick's face.

"So what did I miss?" a weary female voice asked.

Blaze turned but Frederick kept his attention on Jazz. He knew who it was just by the voice.

"Welcome back Myrina," Frederick jubilantly greeted. "How was your solo patrol?"

Myrina sighed, remembering it well with detail. "Ran into a dark being."

Frederick turned with worry, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But he almost got the best of me. He was after someone else though, I could tell."

"Any idea who?" the swordsman asked after some thought.

"A white female dragon by the name of Yin. She was there with me and I think she saved me. She told me she didn't have any combat experience. One second she was behind me taking cover like I asked, then the next she was fighting the dark being herself."

"How did that go?"

Myrina showed a small grin, "She fought chivalrously."

Blaze showed a confused look by that complex word. "She fought what?"

"She fought well, Blaze," Frederick replied.

"She used more than one element as well. She used fire and ice and defeated the dark dragon, and wasn't even hurt."

Frederick nodded in understanding, "Aye, then you should tell Aruto what you have found. No doubt it will be helpful to him."

Myrina nodded in response. She looked behind Frederick to see Jazz just looking at her. She smiled and made her way to him. "Were they fussing at you earlier?"

Jazz nodded.

"Aw, they just don't understand you the way I do. Don't pay attention to them."

Frederick rolled his eyes and made his way back to his post.

_Meanwhile_

_Fairy Realm_

Following the sound of activity, Myrianda found herself staring at some sort of strange village. The inhabitants were even more so. They were tall, looked halfway human, and had legs that looked like they were stolen off horses or goats.

Myrianda was just out in the treeline, scoping out the whole situation. If her instincts were right, Cosmo was here. "These goat people are everywhere," Myrianda said to herself. "They wouldn't be keeping Cosmo out in the open so I've got to see if I can peek through some of these convenient windows."

When the timing was right, Myrianda flew her way to the nearest hut. She was small enough to avoid detection from a distance but she still had to be wary of anyone nearby. The first hut was a bust. It was totally empty. So she moved on. When she found an opening between huts, she peeked through to see the fauns working on a new hut. Cosmo definitely wouldn't be over there.

After a few more huts and easily avoiding detection, Myrianda finally looked through a small huts window. Inside was a faun. She seemed she was looking at something on a small shelf on the other side of the hut. She squinted through the darkness enough for her colorless night vision to kick in, then spotted a small dragon sitting on the shelf.

"Cosmo," Myrianda thought aloud. "I knew he'd be here."

When she turned around, she froze. Two female fauns were staring at her from only three feet away. They didn't look all that old either.

"What is that thing?" One said to the other.

The other shrugged, "I don't know. Hey let's catch it! Maybe it's some rare species."

Without hesitation the faun who suggested threw her hand forward. Myrianda jumped up, making the faun miss and hit the window, then she flapped her wings to get airborne just high enough so the fauns couldn't reach her.

"It's getting away!" 

Then the dragoness heard the front door squeak open. She held on long enough for the faun to walk out, then headed for the open door.

"What's going on out here?" the faun known as Elora asked.

The two younger fauns looked at each other then one of them answered, "We were trying to catch this pink flying thing."

Myrianda didn't stick around to hear them chat, she flew through the door and straight to where Cosmo was sitting. The yellow dragon spotted Myrianda then grew surprised that she had found him.

"Cosmo! Let's get out of here!" Myrianda demanded as she landed beside him.

"Myrianda? How did you find me?"

"I'll tell you later but we have to get out before that goat person comes back."

But it was a bit late. Elora had already made her way back through the doorway and immediately noticed the pink dragoness.

"What the-" Elora began before shutting the door.

Myrianda growled, "C'mon Cosmo. With the two of us we can escape this prison."

"P-prison?" the faun stuttered, slightly frightened by Myrianda's threatning looking face.

"Myrianda, you got it all wrong!" Cosmo quickly informed to prevent someone from getting hurt. "This is no prison!"

The pink dragoness kept her eye on the faun for a few more moments. "What do you mean?"

"I'm here by my free will, Elora here helped me out. Long story short, a tree limb fell on me."

Myrianda was quiet a few moments. She turned the faun with an strange look on her face. "So who are you?"

"Elora," she calmly answered. "Cosmo said you were Myrianda?"

The dragoness hesitated to nod. Still suspicious of the faun.

"So," Cosmo began. "Now that all of that is out of the way I guess I'll . . . Myrianda it's alright."

"What?" she innocently replied.

"That look you're giving Elora, it's intriguing."

Myrianda rolled her eyes, "Whatever. I don't throw my trust around like frisbees like you do."

"What if I let you leave?" Elora mildly suggested.

"Do what you want," the dragoness patently answered. "As a dragon I wanted to be around my own kind instead of being in castle full of prudish fairies."

"Prudish?" Cosmo went, unable to understand the strange word.

Myrianda drooped her shoulders, "Read a book every once in a while."

"I do," Cosmo sighed. "When I come across words like those I just guess their meaning and keep reading. Why say some big word like, well insipid, when you can just say dull."

"To confuse people," the dragoness replied. "So what exactly are you still doing here?"

Cosmo shrugged, "Because I haven't left yet."

"So did both of you come from the fairies castle?" Elora asked, sitting down in a nearby wooden chair.

Cosmo nodded, "Yeah, but we'll be leaving soon."

"Are the fairies nice?"

Myrianda harshly answered with obvious sarcism, "They sparkle and fart rainbows what do you think?"

"Myrianda!" Cosmo went in surprise.

"Again with that face," Myrianda tittered. "It's so easy to make."

"Whatever," the yellow scaled reptile uttered. Then he felt his stomach growl. "I just realized I haven't eaten ever since yesterday."

"I could go for some Farlix," Myrianda grinned.

"You had enough the other night," Comso grumbled, remembering it well.

Then Cosmo looked at a Myrianda to see her more glistening than before. Then he realized what was going on, "That's not going to work."

"What?" Myrianda asked, trying to not look surprised.

"You know what I'm talking about."

The pink dragoness looked a bit confused. "We'll talk about this later. But at the moment I'm starved. You think the fairies have something for us?"

"Maybe," Cosmo simply answered.

"So you're leaving?" Elora asked with a bit of disappointment.

"Yeah, the fairies might be wondering where we are," Cosmo regrettably informed.

"Well then," Elora began. She opened the door then continued, "I guess it's goodbye then."

The two dragons looked at each other. Myrianda was the first to start flying toward the door, then Cosmo followed. "Thanks for the company Elora," Cosmo conveyed as he flew out the door. "Which way to the fairy castle?"

Elora smiled and pointed them in the right direction. "It's straight that way, good luck!"

Cosmo smiled to see the faun waving them goodbye. It was a quick friendship, but unfortunately it was a quick goodbye.

When Cosmo caught back up to Myrianda, then flew over the trees and out of sight. And almost immediately, Myrianda asked, "So how did you know about me?"

Cosmo knew that question was going to pop up sooner or later. Now is a better time than ever to tell her the truth. "Believe or not, I know you used to be a human before you came to this world. I'm guessing it was by a dream that you had was it not?"

Myrianda almost looked stunned and for once, quiet. A good while passed until she finally answered, "How did you know about all of that."

Cosmo had heard this question plenty of times before so he already knew how to break it down. He started with the truth about him. "It's because I'm like you Myrianda. I'm a human. I was fighting in the war back in our realm when I was knocked out by an explosion. Then I had this strange dream where this distant voice asked me to be a hero for the dragon realm. I said yes and here I am."

The cool breeze blew through the dragon's wings. Myrianda answered back a few moments later, "I see. So how does this explain my powers?"

"Believe it or not, there are four others like me and you. I found you, Yin, Isis, and I believe Phantom may be a human as well. The last human is Blaze and I haven't even seen him yet."

"So I'm guessing that you are gathering all of the human dragons like me and you?"

"All of us have an important role in this realm. There's a reason why we're here but first we all have to find each other. After we all gather together, that's when we take the next step."

Myrianda cocked an eye, "And what is this next step?"

Cosmo shrugged, "I don't know yet. I'm still working on figuring it out. But all of us human dragons have special abilities. You know yours, I know mine. If you're really interested in that though I have a list that tells me what the dragon's name is, what their abilities are, what elements they use, and a description of each one of them."

"Sounds like you got it made," Myrianda replied.

"Mostly," Cosmo answered. "_Phantom is going to be the problem though._"

_Dragon Realm_

"What do you mean!" Micha exclaimed. Anyone in the lobby was now looking at her, wondering what the outburst was about.

The yellow scaled dragon known as Static shook his head. "I'm sorry. Torch is in a coma. He lost a lot of blood and we're barely keeping him alive right now. But good news is that he's stable."

"When will he wake up?" Micha unhappily asked.

Static shrugged, "We would have to get him more blood into his body as soon as possible. But comas can last for days, even months. And in some rare cases they can last for years. I'm sorry."

A small salty tear formed in Micha's eye. She immediately wiped it off and slowly made her way to the nearest chair to think things through. Not knowing why this was happening to her, Micha slumped into the chair, obviously upset.


	52. Back in the Dragon Realm

It seems that I left a lot longer than I had anticipated. I would like to formally apologize about that. You know how life can be. It can sneak up on you quite easily. Let us hope that I don't randomly disappear again. This story is nearing it's completion anyhow so I might as well run the rest of the marathon. You may review if you wish but I'm not forcing you. Forced reviews are not satisfying at all.

Chapter 52

Back in the Dragon Realm

There was a knock at the door. Whatever was going on inside the house ceased almost immediately. The owner of the home groaned as she made her way to the door, somewhat provoked by the sudden interruption. As soon as the door opened, the dragoness met a gray dragon, almost her size. She didn't know him in any way.

"Can I help you?" the black dragoness aggravatingly asked.

The gray dragon didn't seem offended. He didn't answer, he silently handed over a small envelope to her and took his leave. As soon as he was on his way down the street, the black dragoness retreated back into her home.

"Who was that Cynder?" A voice called out from the bedroom.

She stayed silent as she opened up the envelope. Cynder pulled out a small sheet of paper and tossed the envelope to the side. She grew a bit confused to what the letter stated.

It was a bill for an order from Lateef's restaurant.

"Hey Spyro, have you been to Lateef's lately?" Cynder asked as she walked into the bedroom.

Spyro sat up on the bed as Cynder made her way inside. "No, why?

"It's a bill from his restaurant. Someone had a buffet of fish recently."

"Fish?" Spyro repeated questionably. "I'm more into meat than fish. It wasn't me."

Cynder set the bill down on a nearby nightstand. "Is there anyone we know that likes fish more than anything else?"

Spyro placed a paw underneath his chin in thought. "I wonder who it could be."

_Meanwhile_

Isis happily grinned as a plate of leftover fish was set down for her. Without even any thanks to Kali, she dug in as if she hadn't eaten in days.

"Whoa Isis, slow down. I don't think the food is going to run off," Kali promptly suggested.

The black cat didn't even pay her any attention. If the blue dragoness didn't know any better she would say that Isis was becoming addicted to fish. She sighed as she made her way back into the living room, lonely as usual.

She set her eyes on her special music box on the end table as she sat down on the couch. She didn't think much about it. She had already bothered her sister enough today. Without Cosmo around, things were really beginning to get dull. Isis would occasionally help with that but most of the time she was nowhere to be found. Now that she could use her telekinesis power as often as she could, the cat would come and go as she pleased.

It worried Kali about where Isis would run off too. Most of the time she would be gone during the day. But more recently Kali has caught her sneaking out in the middle of the night as well. What business would a cat have out in the city in the middle of the night?

Isis didn't take long to finish her dinner. The cat slowly peeked into the living room to see if Kali was around. When the dragon spotted the cat, she let out a fake smile.

"Finished already?" Kali bluntly asked. "Did you even taste it?"

Isis shrugged her small shoulders, as she slowly made her way toward the couch. She pounced onto it without hesitation and quickly made herself comfortable on the soft cushion.

Truth was, Isis hadn't really been talking lately. Aside from the late night sneak-outs, this also had her worried. Were the two connected somehow? Maybe something happened that Isis didn't want to talk about.

Little did she know, there actually was.

_Forty-Five hours ago_

It was a simple job really. Hunt for trouble, find it, get rid of it, then repeat. Isis was doing just that. It amazed her on how much trouble she could find in just one night.

Burglaries had been becoming more and more common throughout the city. It seemed as if not every dragon obeyed the laws as they should. Of course, Isis found it to be distressful. Even the burglary that was about to happen right in front of the cat's eyes didn't surprise her anymore.

A small dragon was trying to open a window, but was having trouble with it. Isis only smiled as she slowly approached the young, soon-to-be thief.

It was a small deserted street near the walls of the city. The house itself look pretty luxurious though. Isis could understand how it could get attention from a burglar like this one.

"Excuse me," Isis softly said.

The young gray dragon stopped in his tracks. He slowly took his paws away from the window and slowly turned around, expecting to be asked a series of questions on what he was doing. Strangely, he couldn't find anyone. However he was still uneasy about the whole situation.

"Down here Sherlock Rob Homes," Isis smirked.

The dragon looked down to see a cat. A black cat looking straight up at him.

Isis continued in her calm voice, "Yeah hi there. Can I ask you a quick question?"

The dragon swallowed hard. Never before in his life had he seen a creature like this before. He read about them but they weren't supposed to talk.

Without an answer, Isis just asked away, still calm about the whole situation. "Why are trying to rob a home? Don't you know that burglary is wrong?"

The dragon was a bit speechless. When he finally spoke, his voice sound younger than what he looked. "I . . . but-."

"No buts," Isis replied. "You should know better than that."

"You can talk. Why are you talking?"

Isis sighed, "Out of all things that's your response?" She began to sound a little more serious. "Listen. I don't know if you've been on a crime spree of if this is your first time. I assume it's your first because of how horrid you were doing but anyways that's not the point. You know the golden rule?"

The dragon thought, a bit afraid at the moment. "Err . . . what goes around comes around?"

"To put it simply," Isis began. "You wouldn't want anyone to steal your stuff right?"

The gray dragon responded with a quick nod, hoping he would get out of this situation easily if he obeyed.

"Okay then. You shouldn't steal someone's belongings either. Have you ever heard of karma?"

The young dragon shook his head.

"Well you wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley," the cat explained. "Now I want you to go home and think about what you were going to do. And if I catch you doing something like this again, I won't go so easy on you next time."

The dragon looked unconvinced for a moment. At least until he began to loose his footing on the stonework beneath him. The dragon looked down and noticed that he was beginning to float up in the air.

"Hey! What's going on? Why am I floating?" The gray dragon began in a panic.

Isis smiled, "I'm just making sure you will remember me." She made the dragon float even higher using her telekinetic ability. She knew he was too young to fly so she was using it as an advantage. It wouldn't have been the first time she had done this so she had some experience in making large objects of even small dragon float with her ability. However that was all she could do with large objects at the moment.

"Okay okay!" The gray dragon frantically pleaded. He was floating as high as the house he was trying to rob. "You win! I promise I won't try to steal things anymore!"

Isis still hold her smile from before, finding this to be quite amusing. "That's all I wanted to hear."

Suddenly, Isis heard some commotion nearby. It startled her to the point where her concentration was broke for a small second, bringing the young, floating dragon into a short free-fall. He shouted as he fell, seeing the concrete rushing up toward him. Without even looking at the dragon, Isis, used her ability to catch the dragon and set him down safely. She was more worried on what that noise was. It sound as if something was running down a nearby alleyway.

The younger dragon didn't stick around long enough for her to even see him disappear down the street. The cat was too worried about something else that had recently stole her attention. That was fine with the scared dragon. Who knew a cat could be so dangerous?

Isis heard a shout nearby. Now she was worried. Something was going down and she had to see what it was. She was quick on her feet as she followed the sounds. She found herself roaming down the dark empty street a little ways before turning into a trashy alley. But this particular one wasn't empty. Her night vision kicked in and as soon as it did, she spotted a light yellow dragon being chased by a darker one. If Isis didn't know any better, it was a dark being.

She quickly took off as fast as he feet would take her. She had to be quick if she was going to save the damsel in distress.

As she ran down the alley, she could hear the noises getting closer, meaning she was gaining on them. But she had to hurry. The occasional alleyway didn't always have their exits. And as she dashed on by the next corner, her assumption was correct. She spotted a dead end ahead and the yellow dragon was cornered. As Isis got closer she realized this dragon was a she, and she was beginning to take action herself. She spread her wide wings and leaped up into the air to escape the clutches of the dark being, but the dark dragon had other plans. Before she could take off, the dark being leaped at the dragoness and tackled her before she could get anywhere. Both of them fell back down to the ground and unfortunately, the dragoness ended up landing hard on the concrete with a dark dragon in her face.

"No!" Isis yelled at the top of her lungs.

But she was too late. The dark dragon had already attacked the dragoness with his claws, tearing her to shreds. Isis could see the life leaving the poor dragon's eyes. The cat couldn't believe it. Never before has this happened. Never before had she been able to save someone, until now.

Isis clenched her teeth. Anger was beginning to fill her as the dark being turned to face her, blood dripping from it's claws.

The cat didn't know what happened after that. She raised a paw in front of her as the dark being slowly began making it's way toward her. Fueled by anger, she used her ability of telekinesis to lift the dark being into the air. The dark being growled as it floated up a few feet from the ground, immobile and completely helpless. It didn't take long for Isis to use her ability in a way she never did before.

Using her telekinesis, she concentrated on nothing but killing this murderer. The dark being's growling suddenly began to stop as Isis crushed the insides of the dragon using nothing but telekinesis and a sudden hatred. Before long, the dark dragon became limp and lifeless. Isis just dropped the body onto the ground with a care in the world. As soon as she did, her head began to pound in pain as if a massive headache struck her.

She held her head for a couple of minutes in pain until it finally subsided. The cat knew it was because she overused her ability. But she didn't care.

Isis looked at the body of the yellow dragoness. A small tear formed in her eye as she turned and began to head back home.

_Present Day_

Kali watched as Isis silently fell asleep beside her on the couch. The dragoness sighed. She hadn't had anyone other than her sister to talk to lately. She hoped that whatever happened to Isis wasn't going to affect her much longer. Kali wanted that crazy cat back.

_The Next Day_

_Fairy Realm_

Cosmo finally awoke to greet the new day. He yawned from the bed he lied in and looked around. Nothing out of the usual, everything seemed to be in place. Except for Myrianda. She was nowhere to be seen.

"_Must have had an early start_," Cosmo thought as he shifted the covers out of over him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes for a short moment. "_Or at least I hope._"

He couldn't help but think about how she was. A drinking female dragon with a short temper out loose in the castle of a bunch of fairies. It made him shiver.

Cosmo forced himself to stand to his feet. He wasn't completely awake until his feet touched the cold floor in the hallway. As soon as he felt the rushing cold shiver in his feet, he wanted to jump back into his room for warmth. But he began to ignore it as he kept his pace.

It took a little while but Cosmo found his bearings in the castle and made his way outside. A few fairies noticed his presence but they grown used to the dragon being around. Some of them even greeted Cosmo by name. It seemed he was getting popular among the fairies, which didn't surprise him. Being the first dragon in the fairy castle had con's and pro's but he didn't let it get to his head. He wasn't gonna be here much longer anyways. Zoe had told him the before he went to sleep last night that she was nearly ready to cast another spell to send him back home. He was ready for it. Cosmo had been gone for far too long. He just hoped Kali would forgive him for disappearing like that.

The day passed on by. Cosmo went on his business, finding nearly anything to do amusing for a little while. The world of fairies was no place for a dragon. Myrianda eventually found him in the castle garden and decided to stick with him for a little while. At least until she thought of something to do or some fairy to playfully insult. Cosmo had told her repeatedly that calling a fairy a fluttery go happy firefly wasn't nice, but she insisted that they didn't mind.

A few hours passed until the two dragons finally received the news from Zoe's friend Cloe, that Zoe was ready for them. Exchanging relieved glances, Cosmo and Myrianda left the garden and followed Cloe through the decorated castle. A few quiet minutes passed until they were led into a small empty room. Only a few empty bookcases decorated the room along with a red velvet carpet. If it wasn't for the small chandelier hanging from the tall ceiling the room would have been pitch-black. It didn't take but a few moments for Zoe to join them.

"Are you ready?" Zoe kindly asked the two dragons.

Cosmo looked at Myrianda to make sure. The pink dragoness wasn't in the mood for waiting though. She quickly replied as if her patience had already run out. "Of course we are Mrs. Firefly. Do your thing."

The yellow dragon could have face-palmed himself. "Please don't make our only way back home mad Myrianda."

Zoe still showed a smile, not even offended in the slightest. "Alright then. I will cast a dual spell on you two. As soon as you are transported back into your world, your size will return to normal."

"That's fine," Cosmo replied thankfully. Then he remembered something he meant to ask a while back. "Wait a second. I wanted to ask you something before we sent us off."

"Yes?"

"Is there any way you can help me out in the dragon realm?"

Zoe raised an eyebrow, "In what way?" she asked, intrigued.

Cosmo thought for a moment on the best way to approach the matter. He finally came up with an answer as he saw how impatient Myrianda was getting with him. "I have a friend who has had a terrible curse laid upon her and I'm afraid fairy magic may be the only chance of lifting the curse."

"You mean Isis?" Zoe smiled. Before Cosmo could say anything the fairy continued. "I know about it. Don't worry, Ignitus filled us in on the tragedy through a type of telepathy." Zoe digressed a little. "We assume it was from some sort of magical pool he did it from but I can't say for certain."

It grew quiet for a moment while Cosmo and Zoe were lost in thought.

"Hey," Myrianda snapped, eager to leave. "So you gonna help us out of here or what?"

"Oh right," the fairy giggled. "Of course."

She raised her wand and began circling it over her head as she built up the spell she was going to use. As soon as it was good and charged, she let the spell loose. A small ball of light collided against Cosmo first, then Zoe quickly set loose another to hit Myrianda. Light enveloped the two dragons as they slowly began to disappear from the realm.

"Finally," Myrianda uttered before she completely disappeared.

As soon as they were gone, Zoe smiled at a job well done.

"Oh yeah," Cloe said as she remembered something important. Zoe nearly forgot she was there. "I was supposed to tell you earlier that Spyro was spotted in the sheep field again."

Zoe sighed, "How many sheep are missing?"

"Four," Cloe answered with regret.

The fairy shook her head, "I wonder if Cosmo's dimension has any dragon that chases sheep as much as Spyro."

"Or cocky," Cloe added.

Zoe showed her usual smile, "Yes, that too."

_Dragon Realm_

They appeared out of thin air basically. The two dragons slowly began to get their bearings back as they began to materialize back into the city. It had been a good while since Cosmo last seen this place . . . but there was a problem. They appeared in the market with a lot of eyes watching them.

"Oh . . . snap," Myrianda muttered.

"Didn't see that one coming," Cosmo followed.

All the dragons were frozen in their spots, mouths agape. Some of them even dropped whatever they had in their grasp, too shocked for words.

"What the hay?" A nearby dragon said aloud.

"Where did they come from?"

"How did they do that?"

"Am I drunk or high?"

Cosmo faked a small smile. "Err . . . hey there."

Myrianda softly nudged the yellow dragon and whispered, "Maybe we should walk on out of here ASAP."

Although it was more of a quick pace, the two dragons made their way through the stunned crowd. Anyone that was standing in the duo's path immediately stepped aside as if they were scared of them. If only they knew what had really happened to them a few days back, they wouldn't be acting this way. But Cosmo wasn't the one for giving speeches and Myrianda was the type who could care less about it.

Finally, they found their way through the crowd and quickly walked down the dark street. The sun was setting and it made loosing the crowd easier. It was also a bit chilly. Cosmo kept looking back in the market, making sure someone wasn't curious enough to follow. He didn't feel like answering a bunch of questions to a stranger. The city was getting to the point where you had to be careful who you had your conversations with.

"I think we left them behind," Myrianda spoke the obvious. "Well, it was nice meeting you Cosmo. I'm going back to the bar."

"What?" Cosmo rhetorically said in surprise. He stopped her before she could turn around. "Wait, you can't leave."

"And why not?" Myrianda speedily asked. A bit frustrated already with Cosmo.

Cosmo sighed. He looked around a bit before saying, "I can't explain it here."

"Riiiiiiight," the pink dragoness slurred as she rolled her eyes. "Well then I'll see ya around."

"Aren't you curious in the slightest?" the determined dragon questioned. The dragoness stopped before she got any farther in her steps.

Myrianda looked back at Cosmo with an inexpressible look on her face. "Alright. I'll humor you. Curious about what?"

Finally he was getting somewhere. "About why you . . . look I can only explain this in private. If the knowledge I am willing to share with you is heard by the wrong ears then we might be in trouble."

Cosmo could tell he got Myrianda thinking. She sat in her spot for a few moments, very quiet. Only a warm breeze was heard as it blew through the cloudless air.

"Fine," the dragoness finally answered. Cosmo felt relief rush through his body. "But you're going to buy me drink. Deal?"

Cosmo sighed. "Whatever. But you really gotta stop with all this drinking nonsense. I don't see how you can go through with it."

_Later_

It took a little longer than Cosmo thought to get to where he wanted to go. With darkness beginning to overwhelm the city, moonlight easily began to shine down. It was such a ravishing sight. It reminded Cosmo of that time he spent with Kali down at Twilight Falls.

When he finally arrived, Myrianda noticed she was stopped in front of a small, one story house. "You live here?" she assumed.

"Well . . . yeah you can say that." He turned back toward the door and took a deep breath. "This may be a bit awkward seeing as I've been missing for a few days."

"Wait, do you live here by yourself?"

Cosmo shook his head. "No," he simply answered.

The sooner the better. Cosmo reached for the door handle and turned it without hesitation. The door slowly creaked open, revealing two dragons sitting down on the couch. One of them turned their heads revealing to be a dragon Cosmo hadn't seen in a while. A black dragoness by the name of Cynder. It seemed as if whatever she was doing didn't matter any more.

"Cosmo?"

Almost immediately, the dragoness next to her jumped to her feet on the couch itself and turned around without second thoughts. When Cosmo saw her he made an embarrassing smile.

"Hey there Kali."

Without any words to return, Kali jumped over the back of the couch and crashed into Cosmo with a hug. It knocked the breath out of him but it was an understandable reaction. He returned the hug without second thoughts. He was more than happy to be back, safe and sound.

"I was wondering when you would be back," Kali quietly said. Cosmo could tell she was happy to see him.

"I'm sorry I took so long," Cosmo apologized.

"No. It's alright," Kali assured.

The hug broke and Kali looked Cosmo in the eyes. "I'm glad you're safe."

Then a certain dragoness from behind cleared her throat, obviously tired of being left out in the street.

Kali immediately took notice. "I'm sorry. You must be Myrianda."

The pink dragoness looked a bit surprised. "You know me? How?"

"I'll explain later," Cosmo interrupted. He looked passed Kali and at Cynder who seemed to be smiling at the reunion. "Hey Cynder."

"Good to see you are still in good spirits," Cynder replied.

Kali stepped to the side to let Cosmo and Myrianda inside and immediately shut the door afterward. Cosmo was pleased to see a warm fire burning in the fireplace. The chilly outdoors was beginning to give him the chills.

"How's Spyro doing?" Cosmo considerately asked Cynder.

Cynder grinned. "He's doing just fine. Especially for the last couple of days."

"Where's Isis?" Cosmo inquired, noticing she was missing. He didn't give what Cynder said enough time to click in his head.

Kali shrugged. "I don't know. She's been disappearing like this lately."

"Any idea where?"

The blue dragoness shook her head, "Unfortunately no. She hasn't been her usual self either."

"Wait," Myrianda interrupted. "Who's Isis?"

"My pet cat," Kali answered. "Well considering recent events, pet is out of the question now." Then she turned to Cosmo. "So, how was the fairy world?"

"How did you know about that?"

Kali smiled, "I had some help from the Chronicler. Cynder knows about it too. I knew you were safe this whole time. I just missed having your company."

Cosmo slightly nodded in understanding. He began to tell his story from when he found Myrianda and how they escaped the bar through the underground tunnel. He left out the part where Myrianda was using her ability to influence him of course so he just skipped ahead to where he ran into Phantom. He told of how Phantom almost defeated both of them and how the fairies came into play. Kali seemed a bit surprised, especially the part about them being stuck in the painting. He left out the part about Myrianda's father in that plane crash. He thought that should be kept private. He continued on to the part where he met the faun Elora and eventually the story was told.

"That was quite a story," Cynder gestured. She stood to her feet in satisfaction, "Well I better get going. Spyro might be wondering where I went off to." Before she left she asked a quick question. "Hey Cosmo you remember Lateef's restaurant?"

He didn't even have to think to remember it. "Yeah, why?"

"Is there any chance that you might have eaten fish there before you disappeared?"

Cosmo shook his head. "I'm not really a fish fan. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's no big deal really. But I was given a bill from his restaurant recently and someone ordered fish and sent us the bill."

"You can do that?" Myrianda asked in astonishment.

"Myrianda," Cosmo began. "Don't even think about it."

She just frowned and shrugged in response.

"It was Isis," Kali sighed. Realizing who it was. "It had to have been."

"It doesn't matter," Cynder replied, not surprised in the slightest. "It's not that expensive anyways. Besides . . . Lateef always gives me and Spyro discounts for saving the world as we know it."

"I sense a bragger," Myrianda quietly murmured under her breath. The only dragon that heard was Cosmo, who was shaking his head disappointingly at her.

Cynder finally took her leave and walked back to her home. Kali and Cosmo bid her farewell while Myrianda just checked the place out. Kali shut the front door and looked questionably at Cosmo.

Cosmo immediately realized why she was giving him that look. "Don't look at me. That's just how she is."

"Straightforward?"

The yellow dragon shrugged and nodded, "Pretty much yeah."

"Is there any drinks around here?" a voice came from the kitchen.

Cosmo could have face-palmed himself. "And a bit of a drinker unfortunately."

It didn't take long for Myrianda to return to the living room with a look of disappointment in her face. "I didn't see any drinks."

"I'm not a drinker," Kali quickly answered. "I don't see what's so great about getting drunk and waking up in the morning with a hangover and no recollection of the night before."

Myrianda stared at her blankly. "Leave it up to you to take something as good as drinking and making it sound bad."

Cosmo smiled at the response. "Well, she is right after all."

"Whatever," the pink dragoness muttered. "Well I better be off then." She began to make her way toward the door before Cosmo stepped in front of her.

"Wait a minute. Where are you going to stay for the night?"

Myrianda shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know an inn maybe."

Cosmo continued, "Do you know where the Riverside Beauty is?"

"Yeah I'm pretty sure. Why?"

"I want you to stay there for now."

Myrianda her eyes on Cosmo. "Why should I?" She seemed a bit discontent on being told what to do.

That look wasn't bothering the yellow dragon. He had already seen it one too many times for it to take any kind of effect on him. "You know how to use the elements?"

The pink dragoness sighed in annoyance, "I've been in this world for quite a while. I know them. Ice, fear, electricity, and gamma."

"Gamma?" Kali repeated, wondering what kind of element that was.

"It's a very rare element," Cosmo answered. "Remember when I told you how we got to the fairy realm earlier?"

"Oh yeah," Kali replied upon realization. "You stole Myrianda's gamma element for a little while in your fight against Phantom."

Cosmo smiled as she remembered. Though the smile didn't last that long when another thought popped into his head. "We still have to figure out a way to change him back to Clover."

"Maybe Shivertail will know what to do, or that Chronicler fellow."

The yellow dragon stretched his wings for a moment before answering back in a satisfied tone. "You're probably right. I'll have to pay him a visit tomorrow. There's also that other dragon . . . what was his name?"

"Blaze?" Kali reminded.

"Hello?" Myrianda interrupted in a noisy tone. "I've been waiting to leave for the last longest now."

Cosmo showed a short smirk but it disappeared quickly. "Anyways, I want you to go stay at the Riverside Beauty inn for now. There should be a white dragon by the name of Yin working the counter. Tell her you're with me and to give you room. I'll be there tomorrow to pay for your room if it is necessary."

"You got money?" Myrianda asked, remembering what happened the first time they met in the bar.

"I believe a talk to Shivertail would straighten out any . . . financial issues. Being one of the six has to have it's perks right?"

The pink dragoness just shrugged it off. "Alright I'll go along with your little plan. But if I don't get my room then I'm coming back here with a vengeance."

It didn't take long for her to leave the house. Ignitus was right about her being cocky. She could definitely be a little bit too assertive.

_Later_

_Tathric Range_

The winding trail up the cold, snowy white mountains was definitely a workout itself. It was steep and the ground was rocky and uneven. It wasn't all that wide either.

Frederick looked toward his right to see a sudden drop down the side of the mountain. He remembered how it bothered him the first few times he walked up the trail, but now he had grown used to it. After all this was the only way up to his home. He wondered how Jazz was getting along with it being this chilly.

As he neared the top of the trail, his home came into view. The large stonework walls looked over the edge of the mountain. Frederick spotted one of his colleagues on the edge of the wall, holding a torch and looking out toward Warfang in the distance. He noticed Frederick and gave a quick wave. Frederick returned the favor as he neared the large doorway built into the wall. He pushed it open and closed it back as soon as he was on the other side of the wall. He climbed up the stairs and headed straight for the green topped dojo in front of him. He noticed a large pile of material toward the left side of the dojo's front door. It must have been for Jazz's new home they were going to build. He wondered where that dragon was for a short moment before he found himself at the front door.

He made his way inside the dojo to find most of everyone already gone. Frederick looked around the room to spot only three others sitting in front of a warm fire. As soon as he shut the door behind him, all three of them turned to see who it was. Frederick knew the three faces by heart. Aruto, Isaac, and Kindra.

"Hey there," Kindra greeted from the comfy chair she sat in front of the fire. Aruto and Isaac occupied the other two chairs as well. There were a few more chairs to sit in but Frederick knew that if he sat down he wouldn't stand back up for a little while.

"Hey," Frederick replied in a tired voice as he approached them. "What are all three of you doing up so late?"

"Is it late?" Aruto rhetorically asked. "I didn't notice."

Isaac yawned, "I did. Just haven't felt like getting up."

Aruto shifted positions as Frederick stood beside his chair to warm himself in front of the fire. "Anything to report from Warfang?"

Frederick smiled, "As a matter of fact, yes there is. Cosmo has returned along with Myrianda."

Aruto took a deep breath of satisfaction. "Then all that remains is Phantom. It's making me a bit edgy."

Isaac stood to his feet with a sigh. "Can't we just have one normal day around here?"

Kindra quickly answered back in a tired tone, "Well nothing happened yesterday and you're saying that isn't normal?"

"I had to go hunt yesterday," Isaac complained. "And I was attacked! Did you forget that?"

"Attacked? How come no one told me?" Kindra asked, looking around the room.

Frederick shrugged, "Thought you knew."

"I got time," Isaac said, sitting back down in his seat. "I'll tell you the story."

_Yesterday_

_Midday_

Snow was everywhere. It covered the ground, tree limbs, bushes, and it was slowly falling from the sky. The cold breeze was soft but still could make anyone shiver without warmth. Gray clouds covered the blue sky and the sun's rays managed to slip through any crack in the clouds it found.

Isaac wore his light jacket and brown furred pants to keep him warm as he hunted for tonight's meal. An average sized quiver was slung around his back as he carried a brown long bow as he looked throughout the snow topped woods. He often found himself vaulting over a thick log every now and then but the forest was pretty clean.

"This forest seems dead," Isaac said to himself. "The only thing I've seen are rabbits. No birds, deer, and thankfully no bears."

He continued walking through the ankle deep snow, still not finding any signs of deer. "I'm not even that good with a bow. Why was I picked to hunt today?"

Isaac pulled an arrow out his quiver and nocked it in the bow. He slowly pulled it back and aimed at a tree that was a good ten feet away. When he felt content on his aim, he let the arrow loose. The arrow flew right on by the tree and disappeared into it's self-made hole in the snow beyond it. If it wasn't for the black gloves he wore, the arrow's fletchling would have scraped his hand.

"Even if I do see a deer I'm better off hoping a log will fall on it."

Isaac was still equipped with a small steel dagger on his hip but it wouldn't work well unless he was close. He looked down at it, thinking maybe he could just throw the dagger at his prey and maybe he'll get lucky. But at the moment it seemed luck was working against him.

The young swordsman sighed, "I'm no bowman. I don't know what Aruto was thinking. I swear this better not be some prank."

Time passed. I felt like a good hour before Isaac felt like he was going to go crazy. All he seen the whole time he was in the woods was a few rabbits and the occasional bird. He did manage to catch a glimpse of a fox but it ran off when he saw it. Maybe he could just stab a few rabbits to death and everyone would settle for that. It was certainly better than bringing back nothing.

Then Isaac heard a crack. He grimaced and slowly turned around. He grew surprised and scared at what he saw. A dark dragon was looking at him a few yards away.

"Oh god," Isaac muttered. "Well this sucks."

The dark dragon growled at Isaac's presence as the swordsman frantically pulled out an arrow and nocked it into place. He quickly took aim at the dark dragon as he growled again, then he charged. Immediately Isaac let the arrow fly. The dark dragon stopped long enough to see the arrow fly a few feet over his head. He looked at Isaac, looking a bit confused at the moment.

Isaac shrugged, "Hey I suck at the bow give me a break."

The dark dragon snapped back to his active duty and growled at Isaac, warning him to run. Isaac quickly obliged with the dark dragon giving chase.

"Oh crap oh crap oh crap, running running running!"

Then he remembered that he brought along his dagger. He used his free hand to grab the dagger out into his grasp then looked behind him. The dark dragon was right on his tail. Isaac decided it was time to be brave and turned around quick enough to use the dark dragon for batting practice. He swung his bow at the dark being, cracking him in the head. The blow stunned the dark being long enough for Isaac to swing his dagger at the dark being, but it seemed it wasn't enough. The dark being somehow evaded the swing and pounced on Isaac, taking him down to the ground. The snow broke some of the fall but it still knocked some of his breath out him, and his dagger.

The dark being roared in his face. Isaac flinched but put his fist to use and struck the dragon on the side of his cheek, knocking him silly. Isaac tried his best to get out of the situation he was in, but the dark dragon wouldn't let him.

"Well, this is it." Isaac admitted to himself. "Oh well. So be it."

But it seemed his luck turned the other way as he heard a voice. "I don't think so my friend."

It was quick, but another dragon jumped the dark being on top of Isaac, tackling him to the side. Isaac looked over, nearly in shock from how close he was to dieing. He saw a red dragon letting loose flames onto the dark being. He could even feel it's warmth from where he was laying.

The dark being pushed the red dragon off and tried to pounce onto his enemy. The red dragon was too agile for him though and jumped to the side. Isaac was confused at this point. Didn't the dragons hate humans? Isaac looked over toward the side and spotted his dagger that he lost earlier. He looked back at the battle at hand and saw that the red dragon seemed to be winning.

The red dragon let more flames loose onto the dark being. A few moments passed until he had to take a breather and became satisfied to see the dark being seemed to be singed. Still alive, but hurt and singed, somehow still standing.

Isaac stood to his feet with his dagger and was about to finish him off when the red dragon interrupted him. "Stop. Do not kill him."

"He tried to kill me," Isaac replied in a bushed voice. "I want to return the favor."

"I can heal him if you give me the chance," the red dragon said as he reached behind his wing.

"Heal him? Are you crazy?"

The red dragon grabbed a fairly small bottle he hid behind his wing. It couldn't have been any bigger than the palm of Isaac's hand.

"What is that you got there?" Isaac asked, still keeping his dagger ready.

"Pure essence," the red dragon answered.

Isaac couldn't tell what this dragon was thinking. He couldn't figure out if that was confidence in his voice or fear. He figured that if this dragon was going to kill him he would have already done it by now. It made him a bit more comfortable but he was still ready for anything funny.

Isaac's new friend unscrewed the cap of the bottle and cautiously made his way toward the dark being. He was collapsed on the ground, still breathing but struggling to stand to his feet. He seemed to be too weak though. All it took was one drop from the bottle to fall onto the dark being to make it started having spasms. Isaac was ready more than ever. The dark being was groaning as the red dragon backed up to give him some room so he wouldn't get hurt.

The dark being tried it's best to stand to his feet but he just couldn't. It seemed like he was in pain somehow. Then Isaac realized what was happening. A spot of black on the dragon's scales began to change colors. As more of the black color disappeared off the dragon's scales, Isaac began to put the pieces together of what this red dragon did. It didn't take long before the dark being wasn't dark anymore. Instead, he was replaced with a bright yellow male dragon with a spiky tail and gray wings. The only bad news he saw was that he was unconscious.

"What did you do?" Isaac simply asked.

"I cured him," the red dragon answered worriedly. "But he needs to get to a hospital at the moment."

"Wait," Isaac began. "That . . . pure essence . . . can cure these dark dragons?"

The red dragon nodded. "Yes, though it is hard to come by. Unfortunately I'm afraid our conversation must be cut short. This dragon needs medical attention."

The red dragon slung the unconscious dragon over his shoulders and began walking south. Isaac had to admit, he was stronger than he looked. Taller too.

"What's your name?" Isaac yelled out.

The red dragon stopped for a moment, then finally answered. "Jaggle. We'll see each other again." Then he resumed his pace.

_Present Time_

"Jaggle huh?" Kindra wondered aloud. "You said he was all red?"

Isaac nodded, "Yeah. Everything about him was red. Red scales, wings, whatever."

"Seems somehow familiar," she replied then went to thinking.

_xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx_

A/N: Hope no one is mad that I took so long to upload this chapter. Life can take you through unexpected turns. I can't tell you when I'll get the next chapter up. But I will be working on it.


	53. Pure Essence

Chapter 53

Pure Essence

A gray scaled dragon wiped his brow and sighed. It had been a long and stressful day at the small hospital he worked at and was ready for a good night sleep. Lights in the building were beginning to shut off but the lobby was always open for any late night mishaps. It was rare for anyone to come in past midnight but it was still standard procedure.

As the doctor passed a room, he heard some noises coming from within. He looked at the room number and found it was labeled 106. He didn't recall anyone assigned to this patient at this hour. Then that could only mean . . .

He didn't think of the matter any further as he forcefully pushed the door open to see a patient trying to get out of his bed. He pulled the IV cord out of his front arm, grunting as he did.

"Stay back!" the bright yellow scaled patient warned. He stretched out his gray wings, trying to intimidate the doctor in any way possible. He also showed off his spike ended tail to prove that he wasn't kidding.

"Calm down," the doctor tried to reason, showing little sign of fear. This wasn't the first time he encountered a patient in this state. He still kept his distance but stood in front of the door to prevent any sort of escape. "I'm a doctor, my name is Yashmira. We're trying to help you."

The patient seemed a little more at ease but was still on his guard.

The doctor continued, "You're in a hospital and you've been asleep all day."

Truth was he actually didn't know that. This wasn't his patient so he didn't know who he was. But he had to calm him down in any possible, even if that meant to lie.

"What's going on in here?" A blue dragoness shouted as she ran through the door, only to run straight into Yashmira.

The patient saw his chance and sprinted toward the door. But escape wasn't meant to be. Another doctor showed up just in time for the patient to tumble into him, sending them both to the floor. The patient frantically tried to get away, but the blue dragoness caught up to him and tackled him to the floor.

"Security!" the blue dragoness bellowed as she held the patient to the ground. The patient struggled as much as he could and somehow scratched the blue dragoness' hind back leg in his wild and panicky manner.

"Delilia!" the yellow colored doctor called out in worry.

"I'm fine Static." Delilia clenched her teeth as she felt the mild pain and blood on her back side.

Security finally decided to show up after everything was over. Typical. The security was actually only two dragons. But their size made up for their lack of numbers. It almost looked as if they could knock a dragon out with a single punch.

Security easily took the patient off of Delilia's paws. But before security could take him away, Delilia saw something in his eyes.

"Wait," Delilia ordered, oblivious to the scratch on her. It hurt a little, but it wasn't enough to obviously stop her from doing her job.

"Take him back to room . . ."

"Room 106," Static finished.

Delilia looked at the patient, not mad that he had hurt her, but instead she showed some sort of kindness. "We will let you out of here under one condition. You tell us what happened to you."

"But Delilia," one of the security dragons retorted. "You don't have the authority."

"Then who does?"

"That would be doctor Roughscales."

Delilia sighed. "Fine, I'll speak with him in the morning about this."

Then Static butted in, "In the meantime, what are you going to do with him?" he wonderingly asked, referring to the patient.

"We'll make sure he stays here until everything is sorted out," the guard answered without any sort of remorse.

Delilia snorted in frustration. "Whatever." She eyed the patient and forced a friendly smile. "We'll meet again real soon."

_Following Morning_

It had been a while since he had last seen this place. Cosmo breathed in the fresh air, filling his lungs for a few seconds. He exhaled, smiled, and continued his leisurely pace.

Cosmo couldn't ever think that he would like the market so much. He had missed the busy streets more than he had thought. Many stalls were set up around the large square, selling food, jewelry, trinkets, and basically everything else. You name a reasonable item and you could probably find it here. It wasn't extraordinarily busy but busy enough to bump into someone if you weren't looking.

The yellow reptile decided to sit down on a small bench in front of a large fountain located right in the middle of the square. He remembered this market well. It was in this same exact spot where he had run across Micha at one time. She showed him Twilight Falls, a sight of which Cosmo would never forget. He wondered how that dragoness was doing. He hadn't heard from her in a while.

The cool morning breeze blew. It wasn't forceful, just enough for it to make it's presence known. But Cosmo noticed something else that was beginning to make itself known. He heard them talking all around him. Murmurs, and every time Cosmo turned he saw a dragoness looking at him in a weird way. In fact, everyone that looked was a dragoness. It had him worried.

He stood to his paws and slowly began to make his way through the crowd, not being forceful as he did. He didn't want any more attention.

When he left the market square, he glanced behind him to see a few female dragons following him. They weren't even trying to be sneaky. Maybe Cosmo wasn't thinking about this whole thing too hard. He stopped and watched them for a moment. They didn't look like the type to attack anyone. But those type's of dragons were always the most dangerous. It kept Cosmo on his toes.

Three female dragons, one white, one a bright orange, and the other a dark pink color, stopped in front of him with the most intriguing smiles Cosmo had ever seen. It almost looked . . . seductive.

"Hi there," the white one greeted, attempting to be as nice as possible.

Cosmo couldn't figure her out. He replied with an uneasy tone, "Err . . . hi? Can I help you?"

"Yes," the bright orange dragoness answered, in the same manner as her white scaled friend. Or Cosmo assumed they were friends. "But only a strong and good looking dragon will do."

Cosmo swallowed hard as he began to get nervous. "Erm . . . e-excuse me?"

The dark pink one said nothing. She only laid a paw on Cosmo's backside, causing him to jump with surprise.

"Hey!" Cosmo yelped. He looked at the other two to find they had the same exact looks on their faces. "Crap."

He didn't think twice to high-tail it outta there. He quickly fled the scene as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran down the nearest alleyway and began making random turns in attempt to loose the three dragoness' if they were trying to follow him. Eventually he reached a dead end.

"_No problem_", Cosmo quietly panicked in his thoughts. "_I'll just sit here for a little while. I can just fly out of here anyways._"

"Going somewhere?"

Cosmo jumped. He turned around and spotted the same three dragoness' standing right in front of him. There was no way they were that fast.

"I've already got a girlfriend!" Cosmo pleaded, trying to find any sort of excuse to get out of the situation he was in.

The three dragoness' stopped and just looked at each other. "Girlfriend?" the pink one questionably said.

"Oh well," the white dragoness simply stated with a shrug and returned her look at Cosmo.

Seeing as if persuasion wasn't going to work after all, Cosmo spread his wings and leaped. But he was grabbed by the bright orange one before he could take off. The sudden jerk brought Cosmo back down to the ground . . . on top of the orange one.

"This can't get any more awkward," Cosmo grunted.

Then the bright orange dragoness wrapped all her limbs around poor Cosmo.

"Guess I was mistaken," Cosmo calmly said. Then he began to panic, trying to struggle. Then it hit him, he could just use his strength ability to get out of this easy.

Cosmo concentrated as he struggled to get free. The other two dragoness' just giggled as they too, joined in on the fun. It seemed as if Cosmo's struggling was getting the bright orange dragoness under him aroused. Her moans was evidence enough. But no matter how much Cosmo concentrated, he couldn't unlock his ability.

"Why me?" Cosmo asked himself with fear in his voice. Soon, the other two dragoness' blocked his view from the sky and everything went dark.

_Meanwhile_

He was late. Delilia was running out of patience waiting in the lobby for Doctor Roughscales to show up. Without his permission, Delilia couldn't help that patient she encountered last night. Sure she had already had patients like that in the past. They weren't any fun. Always panicky and scared of almost anything that moved. It was really hard to give a shot to some dragon like that.

However this particular dragon peaked her interest even more when she looked at the dragon's record. Apparently his name was Darude Lighttail and he went missing around the time during the freak tornado incident. Actually a lot of dragon's went missing during that storm. Maybe Delilia could get some information out of him. She couldn't help but wonder on what happened to all the missing dragons. Surely they weren't all dead. Right?

After standing around for a good twenty or so minutes, she finally sat down in the waiting room on the chair closest to the door. She kept tapping her foot on the floor as she waited, as if she had some song stuck in her head.

Then Delilia noticed a pink dragoness enter the building. She had blue fur across her spine, which wasn't that common in dragons. She recognized this dragon as Micha. The poor dragoness had her love taken from her by some black dragon that attacked him. She remembered he was a red dragon by the name of Torch. Micha had been coming into the hospital nearly every day, spending time with that dragon. Even though he was in a coma, it seemed to make Micha feel at ease. Delilia watched her for a few moments, finding nothing else to do.

Micha walked up to the counter, wearing that unhappy face she always wore.

The receptionist had spoken first. "Morning Micha, here to see Torch I assume?" He tried to be as friendly as possible toward the broken-heart dragoness.

Micha simply nodded.

"Then you know what room to go to. Visiting hours end at eight p.m. Here's a pass." He handed her a small card, which could be hung around the neck to make carrying it easier.

Micha placed the pass around her neck and made her way straight to the room where Torch was, paying little attention to everyone else.

"Sad to see something like that."

Delilia turned to the source of the deep voice to find the one who she had been waiting for. "Doctor Roughscales," she simply greeted. The dark brown dragon smiled.

"Doctor Delilia," he replied with a smirk.

"You know how much I hate that," Delilia sighed. Doctor Roughscales was smart and was nearly the largest dragon who worked in the hospital. He was harmless thought but that didn't stop him from being quite a character.

"Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Define gone."

Doctor Roughscales frowned, "Late."

Delilia finally shown a smile. But they both had work to do so she had to get straight to the point. "I'm just gonna come out and say it. Do you mind if me and you switch patients?"

The doctor looked confused. "What for?"

Delilia quickly thought of something to help her out. "He woke up last night and was acting kind of strange. He tried to escape from the hospital but lucky me, Yashmira, and Static was able to stop him. Security took him somewhere."

"Somewhere?" Doctor Roughscales interrupted. Then he noticed Delilia's wound from where the patient scratched her last night. "What happened there?"

Delilia looked to where he was referring and quickly answered to defend the patient. "He was frightened. I don't think he meant to."

"Delilia," Doctor Roughscales began. "Patients like this, they are dangerous. Yes, they need all the help they can get, but in this case, I don't think that statement stands. The more doctors there are around him, the more frightened he may get."

"Please?" Delilia begged.

Now this was quite rare. Doctor Roughscales couldn't believe what he just heard. "Did you just say . . . please?"

The blue scaled doctor just nodded.

"Good enough for me. But you better be careful around him." Doctor Roughscales sighed but it felt like he just lifted a burden off his back and placed it on someone else. But he trusted Delilia. "Security probably moved Darude to a more secure room. I'll let them know you have my permission to see Darude."

Delilia smiled, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Then he smiled. "Doctor Delilia."

"Don't push it."

Meanwhile, across the hall in room 118, Micha sat comfortably in a bedside chair. She was lost in thought, but every now and then she would look at the bed to see Torch. His chest wound was covered with medical bandages but had to be changed every so often. She hated to see her mate this way. It was grievous. It wouldn't surprise her if she had shed more tears in this one room that she had anywhere else in her entire life.

The hospital bill wasn't helping either. But every so often, Micha would receive a donation to help pay for it when that time came. These donations were thoughtful, but who was doing it?

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo opened his eyes to find out he was sweaty. He was in a bed, covered up all the way to his neck. The room he was in was fairly warm, maybe that was why he was sweaty?

Then it hit him. Those three dragoness' that were chasing him. Did they get their way with him after all?

A sigh came from beside him. He froze, afraid to look. He slowly turned his head to see a blue dragoness with purple wings, halfway covered up. She still seemed to be sleeping. Cosmo looked out the nearest window in the room. The sun was high up in the sky. How late was it?

Apparently those three dragoness' that were chasing was just some part of a dream he was having. That was the only conclusion he could come up with. He was glad to be with Kali, but there must have been a reason they were still asleep in the bed, especially considering since it was nearly noon.

"_What happened last night?_" Cosmo wondered.

He laid on the bed in thought for a few moments. Without any recollection of the night before, he sighed and looked over at Kali. She was turned the other way but Cosmo could tell she was still sleeping.

Then he finally decided to get up. Carefully and quietly he made his way out the room, doing his best to not disturb Kali. Successful, he looked around for Isis. Every room was clean and there was no sign of the cat. Cosmo hadn't had the chance to even see her yet. He hoped she was fine. Besides, what kind of trouble could a cat possibly get into?

Cosmo had a lot of questions but no one to answer them. He looked around the living room itself one last time before making his way into the bedroom he and Kali slept in. There was one thing he had been meaning to do for a while now. He just hoped Kali wouldn't mind.

He snagged a music box from the beside table, still being careful to not wake up Kali. She stirred as he grabbed it, but was still sound asleep. He left the room without second thoughts and made his way through the back door. He didn't want to disturb Kali.

He shut the door behind him then became satisfied when he heard it click shut. Cosmo took his seat on the stone steps under him and began to make the music box come to life. The music box played it's melody, making Cosmo feel a wave of nostalgia. He remembered when he first found it in a dresser underneath a pile of rubble in what used to be the owner's home.

"_Cosmo._"

Cosmo snapped to attention. "_Kaida._"

"_It's good to hear from you_," the voice said in Cosmo's thoughts. "_So, how was the fairy world? Anything interesting happen?_"

Cosmo wasn't surprised that she knew about that. "_It was actually quite an ordeal, thanks for asking_."

"_Ordeal? Very fancy._"

Cosmo smiled, "_Good to know you haven't changed._"

"_Why would I?_" Kaida said with a hint of amusement. "_I have no reason to._"

"_I'm glad to hear that. I think my life would be less interesting if it wasn't for that random personality of yours._"

"_Random? I'm not that random. Well sometimes I am but who isn't?_"

Again, Cosmo smiled. "_True._" Then he grew more serious on another matter. "_A lot has happened since I last spoke to you._"

"_Yeah like being attacked by that meanie Phantom and being saved by, and I quote, 'rainbow farting fairies'_."

Cosmo let it slide. "_I'm more worried about Phantom. I need to ask Shivertail, or that Chronic fellow on how to-_"

"_Chronicler_," Kaida interrupted. "_Ignitus to be more formal._"

"_Right._" Cosmo thought in his head, rolling his eyes. "_How to change Phantom back to normal._"

"_Oh him?_" Then she began speaking into Cosmo's mind in a whisper. "_I know how to change him back to Clover._"

Whispering wasn't necessary but Cosmo could picture the goofy smile she was making in the process. "_How so?_"

"_It's . . . a . . . secret._"

"_That's very useful information,_" Cosmo sarcastically thought. "_What would I do without you._"

"_Cry, starve, or be lonely._" Kaida said plainly. "_But don't worry about that. My sister has been doing a good job on taking care of you._"

The way she said it was almost like she knew something he didn't. "_What do you mean by that? Do you know something about last night?_"

"_I know about that dream you had. Very comical._"

"_There's nothing funny about that!_" Cosmo quickly replied. If it was one thing Cosmo was shy about, it was these type of things. "_I was raped in that dream!_"

"_Which makes it even more funny!_" Kaida was laughing at this point, making Cosmo's face turn red from embarrassment. "_Recollection of last night is going to hit you like a shovel!_"

"_Wait,_" Cosmo said nervously. "_Does my dream somehow have something to do with last night?_"

"_Well I'm sure you've got a lot of things to do so I'll let you go_," Kaida giggled, ignoring Cosmo's question altogether. "_You're on your own._"

Then the presence left Cosmo's mind too fast for him to object. He sighed, closed the music box, and went back inside. He crept his way into the bedroom to find that Kali was still asleep. He put the music box back where it belonged and left the room. That dragoness must have stayed up late if she was still sleeping.

_Meanwhile_

Ignitus had waited in Star's room for some time now. Shivertail had sent Star's caretaker Felenia to ask Spyro and Cynder for their presence in the Elder Hall. That white scaled assistant was doing an exceptional job but right now, he wanted Spyro and Cynder to see this with their own two eyes.

As if on cue, Spyro and Cynder entered the room, followed by Felenia.

"Ignitus," Spyro greeted. "What's wrong? Your message sounded urgent."

"Indeed it is urgent," Ignitus replied. "Not even I had expected to see this."

Without another word, he stepped to the side and revealed a small dragon toddler on the play-mat, carelessly playing with a pile of small wooden blocks. He was completely white. His wings, scales, belly, everything. The only thing that wasn't white was the dragon's pupil's which were black.

"Hi", the toddler greeted, looking up at the two new visitors. He sounded as if he had known how to talk for a good while.

Spyro and Cynder looked at one another. Then Cynder politely asked, "Who's that?"

The toddler stood to his feet and introduced himself. "I'm Star the Dragon. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Cynder sat speechless, unable to say anything. Her mind was blown away by what just happened.

"W-What?" Spyro went, dumbstruck by the situation.

Ignitus had a grin on his face by their reactions. It passed quickly as his serious attitude took control. "Star has been growing too fast over the past few days. I believe the process has ceased as of right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it started again."

"He's also a bit smarter than your average toddler," Felenia added in.

Cynder studied Star a few moments. He just smiled at her without a care in the world. "But why?"

Ignitus seemed a bit distressed. He looked back at Star then moved in closer to Spyro and Cynder and whispered, "The evil that approaches the city is moving at a fast pace. As such to this unfortunate predicament, Star must grow at a fast pace as well."

"Does he know any elements?" Spyro asked in a low voice.

Ignitus shook his head and continued to whisper, "No. But that time will come sooner than you think. It's up to the six to train star in all of the elements, but there is still one missing. You may know him as Phantom, but his real name is Clover."

"If he's the last of the six," Cynder began. "Then how will we change him back?"

Ignitus looked at the two of them and could tell that they wanted to help. It was exactly what he was hoping for. "There is a dragon out and about in the city by the name of Jaggle. Find him and ask him for pure essence. I'm sure he will know what you are talking about."

"What does he look like?" Spyro asked, intrigued by this Jaggle.

"He's all red. Shouldn't be too hard for him to stand out in a crowd. But unfortunately he works all over the city."

Cynder was in thought a few moments before she asked, still whispering. "What does he do around the city?"

"He hunts for dark beings and saves them. With pure essence, you can reverse the effects of convexity, changing the victim back to his or her original state. You need to find him, ask him for pure essence, and use the essence on Phantom. I hope that he changes back without coming to any harm. You may ask Cosmo for help if you wish. The more eyes there are the faster we can save Clover."

Spyro nodded. Then someone else entered the room. A large gray dragon looked at everyone in the room and it looked as if he was out of breath.

The guard hastily reported between breaths, "Dark beings . . . outside . . . need help."

"Dark beings!" Felenia gasped.

Ignitus heavily sighed, "They must be trying to kidnap Star."

Star looked unaffected by the news. He was still mindlessly playing with his blocks on the play-mat. Spyro studied him for a moment then looked up at Ignitus. "What do you want us to do?"

Ignitus shook his head in distaste. He looked over at Star and saw how carefree he was. "I hoped it would not have come to this. But we have no choice. Star must not be harmed or kidnapped."

Cynder saw what he was getting at. She too didn't like it. "Kill them?"

"We have no choice," Ignitus slowly replied. "We cannot save them and we cannot risk Star's future. I want all of you to guard the hall. I will stay with Star in case any of them slip by."

Spyro nodded, understanding what he had to do. He turned around and made his way down the hallways, followed by Cynder and Felenia.

_Meanwhile_

Delilia waited in Darude's room while the patient slept. She figured he had a long night so she didn't bother waking him. Besides, he needed his sleep. She didn't really know what was wrong with him but all her questions would be answered soon. The blue dragoness still didn't know why she had sympathy for Darude. The room she was in was more secure than room 106. Slightly larger with a door that was nearly impossible to break down, ensuring that the patient wasn't going anywhere. It almost felt like a prison to Delilia.

Finally the patient stirred. Delilia perked up as he did and watched him as he opened his eyes. The first thing Darude saw were Delilia's eyes. They seemed calm and collected. It soothed him somehow.

"'Bout time you woke up," Delilia smiled.

Darude was calm as he sat upright in his bed. "Where am I?"

"Hospital," Delilia simply answered, leaning back in a nearby chair. "Do you remember what happened last night?"

The yellow dragon didn't at first. But he thought hard and recalled the moment. "Sorry about that. Are you alright?"

Delilia shrugged. "I've been better. But more on to the point. You remember my offer from last night? That I would let you go if you tell me what happened to you?"

Darude nodded. "Yes, I remember. Although I don't think I'm ready to talk about it."

The blue scaled doctor frowned. "I understand." She stood to her feet and made her way to the door.

"Where are you going?" Darude asked, watching her every move. Delilia could pick up a hint of worry in his voice.

"I figured you might want some time alone to think."

"Can you stay here with me? If you don't mind. I really don't want to be alone right now."

Delilia observed the patient a few moments before showing a slight nod. "Of course."

_Meanwhile_

Spyro rushed out the wide doors of the Elder Hall to discover dark beings and guards, attacking each other relentlessly. It made Spyro sick. These were citizens of Warfang, yet there was nothing they could do about it. He just had to deal with it.

Cynder and Felenia also looked at the same sight. It wasn't pretty.

Without warning, a dark being rushed Spyro.

"Spyro look out!" Cynder called out.

She leaped at the dark being and collided against his side before he could leap onto Spyro. The two of them tumbled a few feet before Cynder ended up being on top. The dark being was growling as it pushed Cynder off and onto the ground beside him. But as soon as he did, Spyro was there to put him down with an ice spike through the head. It went clean through, sticking him to the pavement below, killing him instantly.

"At least it was painless," Spyro convinced himself.

When Spyro got a good look around, there had to be at least twenty to thirty dark beings around him. He knew there were two advantages he had over a dark being. A dark being is incapable of flight and is also incapable of using any elements. But they made up for that by sheer numbers. Thirty dark beings may not have seemed to be a lot, but if there was only a couple of guards posted at the Elder Hall, then you had a problem.

"Quit daydreaming when we have a crisis on our hands!" Cynder snapped, bumping Spyro on the side on purpose.

Spyro was quickly brought back into reality to see a few dark beings heading toward him. He noticed Cynder was fighting one herself so he wouldn't ask for he help on this one. The purple dragon hatched an idea and breathed ice all over the ground in front of him. Immediately, the ground became slick, causing the three dark dragons to slip, fall, and slide towards their waiting doom. Spyro saw his chance and launched an earth missile at the closest one. The sheer impact against the dark being's head more than enough for Spyro to assume he was dead. Two left.

The dark beings managed to stick their claws in the ice and balanced themselves up, only to be covered in intense flames by the purple dragon. The two of them growled but pushed themselves forward. They found that ice had melted by the flames, giving them better grip on the ground to push forward. But as soon as they were close enough to actually attack, one of them dropped to the ground, too weak to move. The other one managed to swipe at the purple dragon, but it was futile. He didn't have the energy to fight and he also fell to the ground.

Spyro felt his elemental energy drained but he was still ready to go on. He took a deep breathe to calm himself. Ignitus always told him that you could fight your best when you are calm and alert . . . and to wipe that smug of your face.

Cynder however was beginning to get overwhelmed. She didn't know what happened. For every dark being she killed, two more took it's place. It was getting rather vexatious.

"Cynder!" Spyro shouted.

The black dragoness found her surrounded by six of them. They all growled at her with possession in their eyes. She couldn't use fear without harming one of the guards around her. So she relied on stealth. She closed her eyes and as quick as a blink, she vanished from sight. The dark beings looked at each other, obviously trying to find her. It was hard to tell what they were thinking considering how emotionless they were. Spyro smiled as he realized what she had done.

Then one of the dark beings slumped to the ground. He had large gash marks around his throat. The one next to him also fell with the same fate. Soon enough, another one fell. The three remaining dark beings turned and retreated from the scene. One of them didn't even take two steps before he fell dead. The remaining two didn't even notice.

A nearby guard noticed them trying to run and tackled the closest one. The dark being let out a loud growl at what just happened, but didn't have enough time to notice that the guard had actually impaled him with his horns. He was done for.

Cynder caught up with the other dark dragon and noticed that there was no one to get in the way of her fear. The black dragoness finally reappeared behind the dark being and screamed a deafening screech, causing him to fall to the ground with both paws on his head. It gave Cynder the chance to catch up. She hesitated, but remembered Ignitus's words. All it could take was one dark being to kidnap Star. Then she ended his life by her poison without a second thought.

Satisfied, she turned around and found herself stunned.

"Oh no."

More dark beings shown up out of nowhere. In fact, that was all she could see. The dark beings filled the street and Cynder grew more than worried about Spyro. He could take on a few dark dragons sure, but this many?

Cynder found her legs carrying her as fast as they could as a bright light began to envelop the entire scene. Before she could make it, she found herself closing her eyes to protect herself from being blinded. The light was too bright.

_Spyro's POV _

Spyro watched as Cynder had the last two dark beings on the run. He smiled, turned, then his frown returned. He saw a lot of reinforcements heading their way, and not the good reinforcements either. He turned to see how many guards were looking at the same scene. One was finishing off one dark being while the remaining four guards were too stunned for words.

"We are so dead," one guard murmured in fear.

Spyro swallowed hard, but stood strong. He faced more enemies than this during his adventures, but not at one time. Could he do it? Could he, Cynder, and five mere guards take on this entire mob of dark beings by themselves?

"Star stop!"

Spyro flinched. He looked beside him toward the Elder hall to see a white dragon toddler running out of the exit and onto the street. "Star!" Spyro shouted.

Star looked upon the closing group of dark beings. Spyro expected to see fear, but he never did. Star still kept that same smile as he always did.

"Behind us!"

Spyro looked behind them, there were dark beings covering the street there as well. Things were not looking good. He just hoped Cynder was safe.

The purple dragon was overwhelmed. He didn't know what to do. He looked toward Star to see Ignitus behind Star. Ignitus also saw the overwhelming odds of them actually winning this battle. But he didn't seem as worried as Spyro was. Ignitus leaned over toward Star's side and began to whisper. Spyro couldn't understand what he was saying, but in a few moments, it wouldn't matter.

Spyro took a defensive stance, ready to fight what was seeming to be his final battle, then he caught something in the corner of his eye. He looked, then saw Star becoming enveloped in a lustrous light. Spyro looked back at the enemy to find them nearly on top of them, then became engulfed in a bright light. He closed his eyes, unable to see anything. He didn't know what happened. He didn't feel death. So was he alright?

Then Spyro heard someone fall to the ground. Then another one. And another one. Soon, it sounded as if a whole wave of dragons were falling to the ground.

"What's going on!" Spyro yelled, hoping someone would hear him.

His question answered itself. The light soon faded away and Spyro's vision returned. It was blurry at first, but everything soon came into focus. His eyes grew wide at what he saw. All the dark beings . . . weren't dark beings anymore. From what he was able to see, every dark being that was in front of them and behind them were lying on the ground. Every dragon had also reverted back to their original color.

"Spyro!"

He turned and saw Cynder running toward him. She jumped and wrapped her arms around him as he was tackled to the ground. It knocked the breath out of him but he was too happy to mention it. He just hugged her back.

"I thought you were done for!" Cynder explained as she calmed herself down.

"Glad to see you're alright as well," Spyro smiled.

Cynder let Spyro back up off the uncomfortable ground. She asked as he stood to his feet, "What happened?" The guards were also wondering the same thing.

Spyro looked over toward the Elder Hall's entrance to see Ignitus and Star. Star however was jumping up and down in joy.

Spyro, Cynder, and the guards made their way over to the two of them, hoping to have their questions answered.

"Ignitus," Spyro began. "What just happened?"

Ignitus looked at all of them and could tell they wanted an explanation. Spyro couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Perhaps we should go indoors before we speak."

_Meanwhile_

Darude was quiet the whole time Delilia stayed with him. Almost as if he was asleep. His eye's were open so Delilia thought otherwise, but it would still be a little more comforting to at least hear him breathe. He was being very quiet.

"Sorry," Darude suddenly apologized out of the blue in a soft tone.

"What for?" Delilia asked.

"For what I did last night," the yellow scaled patient answered. "And for not telling you what I remember."

"It's alright," Delilia assured, shifting positions in her chair.

"I was just scared to tell someone," Darude explaining confidently. "But someone needs to know what happened."

"If you're ready to talk about it then I'm here."

Darude smiled the first smile Delilia had seen from him. But that smile didn't last long. "I was out late one night, trying to get home from a late shift at a local restaurant I worked at. The road I take usually had a few dragons hanging around, but because it was so late, it was empty. As I walked home, I was attacked. I thought it was a thief trying to steal what gems I had, but before I could get a good look at him, I was knocked out."

"Sounds awful," Delilia said as she imagined the moment.

"I woke up without any control of my body. No matter what I tried, my legs wouldn't respond. It was as if I were possessed. Then I noticed I had changed colors. I had the blackest scales I ever seen."

He paused a moment then continued. "I lived in this body for years. I was in no control of whether I ate, slept, or even if I attacked someone."

A tear came to his eye. "I remember attacking so many dragons."

"Hey," Delilia interrupted. "You wasn't in control so it wasn't you."

"Wait," Darude began. "Do you actually believe me?"

A moment passed until Delilia nodded. "Truth is, you aren't the first dragon to pop up in the hospital with that story. Recently there have been others like you. At first I didn't believe it, but as more and more dragons shared that story, the more I believed it."

Darude was in thought for a moment before Delilia showed her usual smile and continued. "Well . . . a deal is a deal so I'll let you go."

"Just like that?"

"Well I have to. There isn't anything physically wrong with you so I have no choice but to discharge you."

"Where will I go?"

"That is entirely up to you."

_Meanwhile_

There were quite a few bodies on the street to clean up after the whole mess ended. But luckily most of them survived and were rushed to the hospital with the help of the guards. Someone had to do it after all.

Spyro, Cynder, Felenia, Ignitus, and Star were back in Star's room.

"Where was Shivertail during this whole crisis?" Cynder asked in an annoyed tone.

"He's been looking for Isis," Ignitus answered, watching Star playing with his blocks. It was as if the incident of them being attacked never took place. "The fairy has been ready to change her back and we have the material we need."

"It's not like he could have predicted this Cynder," Felenia said.

"I know," she replied. "It could have been worse, but we just got lucky."

"Ignitus," Spyro began in wonder.

Ignitus forced to show a comforting smile. "I already owe you all an explanation." He turned to look at Star as he explained. "Star is fundamentally a prodigy. I already knew he had this type of cleansing ability. I just asked him to use it."

"I've never seen any dragon with such power," Felenia said in astonishment. "Let alone a toddler."

"He's growing faster than you may consider," Ignitus explained. "It won't be long until the six themselves will be training him to find his elements. I just hope they are unlocked in time."

"In time for what?" Spyro asked, looking troubled.

Ignitus closed his eyes as he imagined the sentences he spoke. "The attacked that just took place was a minor one. As time passes, more and more citizens will become missing. The only explanation will be that they were changed into dark beings to serve their new master. A powerful human with magical capabilities."

"A wizard?" Felenia guessed.

Ignitus nodded. "Ismeral Nexis. He began practicing the dark arts of the void and used it on other humans, changing them into his personal slaves."

"Like dark beings?" Cynder asked.

"Something like that, yes. Although void magic had a much more powerful effect than convexity, but was more difficult to master. If not cast properly, you would destroy yourself in an instant."

"How did someone like this survive for this long? And this powerful?" the purple dragon questioned, not liking this Ismeral one bit.

"It's a long story."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

AU: The next chapter won't explain Ismeral's past. Refer to chapter 51 if you have forgotten about him. Unfortunately this will be the only chapter for this story I'll be able to upload. I wanted to get Spyro and Ember 2 worked on and uploaded by I've been spending the last few days visiting my mom in the hospital. She's fine, blood count was low so don't worry about that.

I'll try to get something uploaded by the end of this week while I have the chance but I can't make any promises.


	54. A Cat's Curse

Chapter 54

A Cat's Curse

Cosmo was feeling a bit uncomfortable at the moment. The market square was one of the last places he wanted to be right now. But Kali insisted that the two of them spent some time to catch up on what happened the last few days while she shopped for some food.

The dream Cosmo had earlier kept banging his head. Especially when he saw any female dragon looking at him, excluding Kali.

"_No reason to get so worked up. Dreams are just a figment of reality and we really don't have any control over them._" Cosmo thought to himself. "_I hope._"

The square wasn't all that busy at the moment but it still made Cosmo worry.

"Cynder's been keeping me company ever since you left," Kali said, despite having Cosmo ignore her.

"Uh-huh," the yellow dragon simply went, keeping an eye on all the female's around him.

Kali sighed. "You know . . . if you were actually listening to my whole conversation you could actually have descent replies."

Cosmo snapped back to reality. "I'm listening, answering, and replying."

"No . . . you're not. I asked you earlier, 'how was the fairy world?' and you said 'yes'."

"I-I did?"

Kali nodded. "Is there something on your mind you wanna share with me?"

Cosmo shrugged, still keeping an eye out for imposters. "I just . . . had a weird dream last night."

"You wanna talk about it?"

Immediately, the yellow dragon shook his head. "No way. At least not here."

Kali showed a goofy grin. "I bet it's something embarrassing."

Cosmo forced an uneasy smile in an attempt to hide his face from turning red. "Can we get back to shopping?"

"Why?" Kali began with a laugh. "You wanna buy me something?"

"Maybe I'll buy you a muzzle," Cosmo playfully joked.

"Why? You wanna get kinky?"

Cosmo squealed. Or it sounded like a squeal. Whatever it was, it made Kali burst out laughing.

Kali continued, but in a much quieter tone. "I can't believe you still act like that. Especially after last night."

The blue dragoness began walking to the nearest stall for food, until Cosmo stopped her. "Wait a minute, what happened last night?"

Kali raised an eye. "You don't remember?" Then she smiled. "I can refresh your memory if you want."

Before Cosmo could object, Kali lunged at him and locked her lips with his. The yellow dragon couldn't believe she was doing this. Right here in the middle of the market on top of that. But he couldn't object either. Before he knew it, Kali withdrew with a wide smile.

"Why did you stop?" Cosmo asked in his trance.

The blue dragoness loved seeing Cosmo in this state. "Here's a hint. Mating season ended last night. The bed wasn't used for sleeping either."

Then she walked toward the stall, leaving Cosmo with his mouth wide open.

"Wait a minute!" Cosmo said, catching up to Kali. "You mean you . . . and me . . .?"

"Don't think too hard about it." It seemed that smile had been on Kali's face for a while now. "I'm surprised you didn't remember when you woke up this morning."

Cosmo put his two front paws on his head as if he had a headache. "I can't believe I did that."

"I do," Kali replied. "And truthfully, I'm glad you did."

Somehow, that statement made Cosmo feel a bit better.

_Elder Hall_

Star seemed to be chocked up full of surprises. Felenia already had a hard time keeping with him, now he was flying around the room. The white scaled caretaker just let him have it. She didn't feel like chasing him down at the moment. Besides, as long as he was in the room, he was fine.

"Look at me Felenia!" Star called out, flying by her.

"Yes I see you Star. Good job."

Felenia sighed. Star wasn't pure white anymore. He changed colors again last night. Now he was orange with a dark purple underbelly and wings. Pretty soon this kid was going to be able to blend in with a crowd, which only meant Felenia had to watch him more carefully.

Star frequently asked to go outside but Felenia was ordered to always tell him no. It made her feel bad for the toddler but she understood why it had to be done. If Star changed colors in the middle of a crowd, it wouldn't be good news. There would be questions and demands, something Shivertail did not want right now.

Then that black dragon entered the room.

"Shivertail," Felenia greeted.

Shivertail was about to say something until he saw Star flying around the room. It was quite a distraction from what he was trying to say. "Erm . . . how long has he been flying?"

"Long enough to drive you crazy," Felenia answered. "Please tell me good news."

The black dragon smiled. "Actually yes. I found Isis."

The cat was standing right beside the dragon the whole time. "What's with the hyperactive kid?" the cat asked in a tired tone.

"You should try babysitting him," Felenia retorted with a grin.

"No thanks," Isis replied. "I'm not really a kid type of cat."

Then Star finally stopped and began hovering in mid-air as he noticed the cat. "Oh a cat!" He didn't hesitate to fly down in front of Isis. He layed down on his belly to get on Isis's level. "I've never seen a cat before." Star turned his head, studying the cat all over.

"This is getting weird," Isis pointed out. "So what's going on?"

"Felenia," Shivertail began. "I want you to go to Cosmo's home and bring him here. I'm sure he would want to see this."

Felenia nodded in understanding. "What about the rest of them?"

"If you want to bring them you may." Ignitus said, entering the room. "Yin and Myrianda are in the Riverside Beauty Inn. Blaze is out of reach. He's up in the Tathric Range, but he's safe."

Felenia nodded once more. "Consider it done."

_Tathric Range_

Frederick looked out from the mountains into the distant land. He could clearly see Warfang even though his view was slightly foggy, due to the cold. It had been quiet the last couple of days. Everything was fully repaired from the attack of dark beings a while back and Jazz's new house was also finished up. The dragon was happy to use it for shelter, especially when Myrina stayed with him for a few minutes. The dragon liked the human's company.

Blaze also spent a little time with Jazz as well, seeing as how they were the only two dragons around. Technically Blaze was a human, but he couldn't just tell these humans that.

Aruto seemed like a nice fellow. He always checked up on Blaze to see how he was doing. The red dragon often wondered why he was being so considerate of him. It did get him to thinking about if he should tell him the truth about himself or not.

"Is everything alright Frederick?"

Frederick knew who it was by the voice. "Yes Myrina," he replied, still looking out toward Warfang.

Myrina took her place beside Frederick, looking at the same sight. "You've standing out here for an hour. I thought you would at least be cold."

"I'm used to this weather," Frederick simply replied. "I've just been thinking."

Myrina turned her head, looking at Frederick. "Care to share?"

Frederick shrugged. "There are going to be tough battles ahead. It won't be long until Ismeras Nexis will have enough dark beings to form an army and attack Warfang."

"Yes," Myrina began. She took in a deep breathe then looked back out toward Warfang. "That thought has crossed my mind from time to time but I try not to think about it."

"It's going to be inevitable. We're going to have one tough trial ahead of us."

The air was quiet for a good while. Myrina didn't like thinking about it, but it was bound to happen. Frightening to think about as well. It was going to be a hard fight.

Myrina couldn't help but ask, "How many dragons are missing from Warfang?"

Frederick closed his eyes, trying to remember what he saw in one of his scouts. "The resident's are beginning to notice disappearances in the city. I've seen posters saying that there will be a reward if any of the missing dragon's are found. Unfortunately, finding them is impossible. We're going to need patience if we ever hope to see them again."

_Later_

_Elder Hall_

Everything was in place. All the ingredients needed to cast the spell on Isis was here, as well as Zoe the fairy. Poison ivy, fur of a fawn, a few drops of dragon blood and a dragon scale. Everyone was just in wait for Cosmo and company if they decided to come along.

After a few minutes, Felenia finally returned with Cosmo, Myrianda, and Yin. Surprisingly, Spyro and Cynder also entered the small room. Kali had went home. She mentioned to Cosmo that she didn't want to interfere with his business and this sounded serious.

This wasn't Star's room. It was the Hall's cellar. Rarely used for storage so it provided enough space for the upcoming event to unfold. But Spyro didn't mind. Especially since Ignitus was with him.

Shivertail saw that everyone was present and began. "I see you are all here. Very well, we shall begin Isis's transformation. Zoe, would you be so kind?"

The fairy nodded and raised her wand, charging up a spell. It only took a moment for her to cast a shining ball of light into the cauldron, where the ingredients laid. The ingredients lit up like a flare, caught on fire, then in the blink of an eye, they transformed into a red liquid.

"Isis," Shivertail began turning toward the cat. "You need to climb into the cauldron for the spell to work."

Ignitus was kind enough to place a stool near the cauldron for Isis to climb in. The cat jumped onto the old stool and stared at the swirling red liquid. "Do I have to?"

Shivertail chuckled. "I'm afraid so."

The black cat stared at the liquid again, then jumped in with a small splash. Her fur became wet with a red tint and it went up to her neck. "This is very unpleasant."

"More reason to resume the spell," Spyro quietly muttered.

Ignitus turned to Zoe. "You may begin the transformation when you are ready."

Zoe nodded. She raised her wand and began to circle it above her head, charging up the spell with as much energy as she could muster. Everyone watched as the small light ball on the wand grow as she charged it up. Cosmo saw that Isis was shaking. Was she scared? Or was the liquid she was in just cold? The dragon had never seen the cat scared before.

Then the spell was launched. The ball of light traveled fast and hit Isis, enveloping the cat in the light. Spyro tried talking, but all sound was strangely muffled by the spell. If Isis was saying something, they wouldn't have any idea what it was.

The light itself then expanded, blinding everyone in the room. Spyro shut his eyes, unable to do anything else for the moment. He just hoped that this would work.

Then the light vanished. Everyone opened their eyes and nearly everyone in the room grew surprised.

Isis was still a cat.

All the liquid in the cauldron was gone and the spell seemed to have failed.

"What happened?" Yin asked.

Myrianda answered in an annoyed tone. "It looks like it didn't work. Now what?"

Cosmo deeply sighed. He had hoped this would have worked. He wanted Isis to be happy, but this wasn't cutting it.

"What do we do now Ignitus?" Cynder asked.

Ignitus was quiet for a good while. He shook his head and finally answered. "Nothing. Our last hope has failed us."

"I'm sorry," Zoe said. "I did the best I could."

"It is not your fault," Ignitus assured. "This magic that was placed on Isis . . . this curse, is too powerful to break. I'm sorry Isis, but I'm afraid that changing you back into a dragon is unachievable."

The cat was still damp from the liquid but she didn't care. Disappointment was clearly heard in her voice. "But . . . how am I supposed to help train Star?"

"Isis," Cosmo began. "You trained me when I needed it."

"That's different," Isis sadly replied.

"How so?"

Isis looked the other way. She didn't know how to answer that question.

_Later_

It was dark and late out. Cosmo returned home with Isis to make sure she wouldn't run off in her depressed state. He had hoped to comfort her, but every time he talked, he was ignored. It made the trip long and quiet, the opposite of what Cosmo wanted. But he didn't expect much.

When they walked through the front door, Kali greeted both of them cheerfully, not knowing what had just happened. The cat disappeared into the kitchen while Cosmo sat on the couch beside Kali to explain everything. After hearing everything he had to say, Kali became disappointed herself. She really wanted to see Isis happy. It seemed as if ages had past since the last time that cat showed any sort of spirit. Especially after that incident Isis had in the alley.

"There has to be something we haven't thought of," Kali thought aloud.

Cosmo shook his head. "I'm sorry but from what Ignitus said, I don't think there is."

_Days Later_

Spyro and Cynder spent their last few days hunting for that Jaggle fellow. It was a big city with lots of ground to cover so it wasn't easy for the two lone dragons to get any leads. Spyro had a few references to him by a few random citizens, but they just turned out to be false alarms. The purple dragon found out the hard way, just how many red dragons there were in the city. He was beginning to lose hope of ever finding Jaggle, or any pure essence for that matter.

Cynder wasn't having that much luck either. She checked everywhere she saw a crowd and asked around, just like Spyro. Coming up with the same results, she decided to go on back home to wait for Spyro.

Even more days flew on by. The purple dragon shivered as a cold breeze blew through the air. He looked up into the sky from the market and saw darkened clouds covering the blue sky.

"Wouldn't be a surprise if it snows," Spyro said to himself. "It's winter after all."

Spyro's assumption was correct. A few hours later, snow began to fall. It made the purple dragon a bit more happy. He was desperate for a change of scenery and the snow was just what he needed. There still wasn't any news about Jaggle so he was still stuck at square one.

Cynder, however, was beginning to go insane. If her horns wasn't so firmly attached to her head, she would have pulled them off by now. Every dragon she asked, she always ended up with the same results. Nothing. That is, until she began her lonely walk down an empty street.

"Pst!"

The black dragoness looked around herself. Was she just hearing things? She could have sworn she heard someone just then.

"Over here," the voice whispered. It was calm and collective, so why was this person hiding?

Cynder spotted the only place it could have come from. The alley beside her. So she shrugged to herself and began her slow pace down it. She was still on her guard however. Couldn't be too careful.

Then she spotted the owner of the voice, leaning up against a building and out of sight from the street. It was someone Cynder hadn't seen in a good while now.

"Frederick?" Cynder assumed, a little surprised to see the human here. He was in his black cloak, making him stand out from the snow that was falling around him. She could also see the claymore on his back. He seemed to never leave home without it. "What are you doing here?"

"You are looking for Jaggle correct?" Frederick rhetorically asked in a low tone.

Cynder nodded.

The human grinned. "Well you're in luck. I found him in the Tathric Range hunting so I asked him to wait for you in our abode."

"Wait, he's in your home?"

Frederick smiled, "Yes . . . why is something the matter?"

"No," Cynder immediately answered. "Just surprised to see that he doesn't mind humans." The cool breeze blew overhead above the alleyway. "Where exactly is this home of yours?"

"I'll show you if you need me to. But not at the moment. If a resident of Warfang see's you with me, then trouble will surely follow."

"I understand," Cynder replied, keeping her voice low. "May I bring Spyro along?"

Frederick nodded, "Of course. He is a part of this as well."

"So does Jaggle have pure essence with him?"

Frederick was silent for a moment as if he was trying to recall the last time he had seen him. "I'm afraid I'm not quite sure."

"It's better than nothing," Cynder assured with a sigh. "So where should we meet you at?"

"You know where the thin trail up the Range is?"

Cynder nodded. "I do. We meet there?"

Frederick nodded. "I'll be waiting."

The human disappeared down the alleyway while Cynder walked back toward the street. Finally, something was going right for once.

_Meanwhile_

A white dragoness walked down the street, yawning in the process. For some reason, she couldn't get enough sleep last night. She stopped for a moment to scratch her tan belly then continued her walk as she stretched her darker tanned wings, as if she had just woken up.

The market square was her destination. She had some business to take care of for herself, plus she wanted to enjoy the new snowy scenery.

Dragon toddlers were outside, playing in the snow without a care in the world. The dragoness smiled as she passed by them. They didn't even take notice of her.

The dragoness couldn't help but notice that the streets were getting thinner by population. Something was going on. Dragon's were just disappearing from the city with little trace of where they went. Sometimes it would be trash strode out in an alley or some blood on the ground. But even if they were dead, there were no bodies to prove it. It was beginning to worry her. What if she was next?

Before the dragoness knew it, she was in the market. As she scanned the area to see a few dragons walking from stall to stall, going on about their routine, she spotted one dragon who was very familiar. Standing beside the middle fountain was a yellow dragon with a dark gray belly. It was unmistakeable of who this was. So she approached him with a friendly smile.

"Hey Cosmo," the dragoness greeted, getting the dragon's attention.

Cosmo turned, recognizing the dragoness immediately. "Yin! It's good to see you."

"You seem to be in a happy mood."

Cosmo nodded. "Its the snow. I haven't seen any in like . . . forever."

"I know what you mean," Yin replied. "It certainly did bright up my day." The chilly breeze blew for a moment, then she continued. "So what are you doing in the market . . . if I'm not imposing to ask."

"It's no imposition," Cosmo began in sureness. "You remember Isis? The cat?"

Yin nodded. "Can't forget someone like that. Especially someone who's like me and you."

Cosmo knew what she meant. "I've been looking for her."

"Is she missing?" Yin asked with worry in her soft voice.

Cosmo shrugged. "Truthfully, I'm not sure. She's just been going out for long periods of time then suddenly pops back in the house. I've just been trying to figure out what she has been up to." He then changed the subject. "So how has Myrianda been?"

Yin was silent for a moment, hesitant to answer. "She's been doing her usual routine. Going out, drinking, and wake up the next day with a hangover and no recollection of the night before. I worry for her sometimes. I even had to drag her home the other night."

_A few nights ago_

_Local Bar_

"Another!" Myrianda slurred. She began to pound her paws on the bar. "More beer! More beer!"

The bartender took his time but eventually the pink drunk got what she wanted. Another bottle. There wasn't many dragons in the bar with her, but Myrianda could have cared less.

The pink dragoness had also invited Yin to come along. Yin never drunk any kind of alcohol, but she went along with her anyways. Someone had to watch out for her. She was one of the six after all. The gods must have some sick sense of humor to make her one of the six though.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" Yin asked as she sat comfortable beside her in front the bar, hoping that Myrianda would get the picture.

"Why? I haven't . . . passed out yet."

Yin sighed. "C'mon. You have to be at least a little tired. How about we just go on home and you can finish your bottle there?"

Myrianda hiccuped. "Why go there . . . when I can just have just . . . as much fun 'ere?"

It seemed like there wasn't any way for Yin to convince her out of it. But nevertheless, she tried. "At home you have . . . privacy."

"So? And why am I doin' all the talkin'? I don't talk good when . . . I'm seeing doubles of everything."

"Just think," Yin began. "At home, you have your own toilet to vomit in."

Myrianda slowly turned toward her from the stool she sat in. "That does sound nice." Then she took a swallow from the contents of the bottle. Yin didn't know what it was but she could tell it was having an effect on Myrianda.

Yin smiled. She was finally getting somewhere. "So how about we head on home?"

Myrianda stood to her feet very slowly. She blinked a few times then said, "Okay . . . fourth time is the charm." A few seconds passed. "Can you do me a favor?"

Yin nodded. "Of course."

"Hold me."

Then just like a light switch, Myrianda was out. She fell to the floor with a loud thud, dropping her bottle on the floor, bursting it into pieces. Yin sighed. "Great."

_Present Time_

"It took two hours for me to drag her back to the inn," Yin explained in a calm manner.

"Sounded like fun," Cosmo replied sarcastically.

"Of course . . . most of the streets were empty so it was pretty lonely dragging her all the way back. Which reminds me. Is it just me, or is there getting to be a lot of dragons going missing?"

Cosmo had to nod. He couldn't lie to her. "Yeah. I know all about it." He lowered his voice and continued. "Those dark beings are kidnapping them. It won't be long until we're training Star in the elements. I really don't like thinking about it, but I hope we can train Star before they attack us. Have you noticed the new star up in the sky at night?"

Yin raised an eye. "Star?"

"Well, it's not really a star. But from what I've heard from Ignitus, it's the dark planet from ancient lore and books." He stopped long enough for a dragon to pass by them, then continued. "When the time comes, we have to destroy it."

Yin shuddered. "I don't like thinking about it. It's frightening."

"I know," Cosmo responded. "But it's hard not to."

_Meanwhile_

Isis dropped the body to the cement ground without a care in the world. Her head pounded after using her telekinesis like that, but whenever she saw a dark being, she couldn't help herself.

This was the fourth dark being this week she had killed. The cat was getting better at killing a dragon by crushing his insides with her telekinesis. Her headaches were less painful the more she did it so she must have been getting better. But what's so good by getting better at killing?

Isis left the alley as quick as she could. Again, she wasn't thanked for her help by the dragon that was almost kidnapped by the dark dragon. They were always too scared to. But someone had to be ruthless toward these abominations.

Whether Isis realized it or not, she was scared. The first time she killed a dark being, she felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. But now . . . she was enjoying it. There was nothing good about killing, so why did she enjoy watched life leave a dragon's eyes? Dark beings were still dragons, just possessed by convexity. They still had hope to be cured, but Isis was taking it away.

The cat was used to being stared at by now. It didn't bother her, nor did it entertain her as it used to. She had hoped to be her fur dragon self. Flying through the air, not being stared at, the ability to open doors without telekinesis. She hoped to do all of this. But now, it just wasn't going to happen.

Then Isis had a sudden headache. It was tolerable for a moment, then it became unbearable. She squinted in the light as the snow fell. It was hard enough to walk as it was, now she had her eyes shut tight in pain. Late reaction to the telekinesis from earlier? Isis didn't know. But the pain passed. It was indeed strange, but Isis just shrugged it off, blaming it on the telekinesis.

_A few hours later_

_Tathric Range_

Spyro and Cynder found Frederick's home incredible. It was much nicer than what the purple dragon was thinking. There was so much to see and too little time to do so. They had work to do at the moment. He just hoped Frederick was telling the truth.

"I welcome you to my humble home," Frederick began as they climbed the stone stairs up to the dojo. He was careful not to slip as the snow lightly fell from the clouds. "Please do not worry about the others. They already know of your presence within these walls."

When they reached the top of the stairs, Spyro took a good look around him. The view of the mountains from the top of the wall was astounding. He walked around the stairs with Cynder and along the edge of the wall to look at the distant city of Warfang. This was the first time he had set eyes on the city from such a distant spot.

"It's beautiful," Cynder quietly said.

Spyro nodded. "It's not everyday you get to see a view like this."

Frederick's colleagues paid little attention to the two new dragons in their territory. It wasn't hard to tell that these were the dragons Aruto spoke of.

Frederick patiently waited for them near Jazz's house. The black dragon stuck his head out of the large doorway just to catch Frederick attention.

"Have you been sleeping all day?" Frederick asked the dragon.

It took a moment but Jazz replied by shaking his head.

"Are you lieing?" Frederick smirked.

"No," said a voice from within Jazz's house.

Curious, Frederick stuck his head inside the empty structure and spotted a red dragon laying down in a nest of hay. "You know that's where Jazz sleeps Blaze."

Blaze yawned. "I can see why. It's more comfortable than it looks."

"Who's Blaze?" Cynder asked.

It nearly startled the human. He didn't even hear the dragon approach him. He didn't hear Spyro neither.

Blaze heard those voices. They didn't sound familiar at all. He bravely stood to his feet and slowly walked toward the exit and peeked outside. Beside Frederick, there were two dragons like him.

"W-Who are you?" Blaze lowly asked. He seemed a bit frightened.

Spyro glanced at Cynder a second before answering. "I'm Spyro. Her name is Cynder. So you must be Blaze."

The red dragon slowly nodded in approval.

"Relax," Cynder began. "We aren't here to hurt you."

That statement made Blaze feel a bit more at ease with himself. Spyro and Cynder knew exactly who this dragon was. Ignitus had told them about the six and this was one of them. Although Spyro was expecting him to be a bit more brave.

Then Spyro turned toward Jazz, who was staring at him intently. "So who are you?"

Jazz just stared at Spyro.

"You from around here?"

He continued to stare at Spyro.

Realizing this dragon wasn't talking, he turned to Frederick. "Is there something wrong with him?"

Frederick showed a slight grin. "He's fine. Jazz here is just a different dragon from dragon's like you. He's a lesser intelligent dragon." He looked up at Jazz. "Pretty rare to come across but they can usually grow pretty large. Jazz here isn't even that old."

Cynder studied Jazz for a moment. "I never seen a dragon like him before."

Frederick felt the cold breeze begin to blow. He looked back at the two visitors. "So how about we go find Jaggle?"

Spyro agreed. "Lead the way." He turned to Blaze and Jazz. "Nice meeting you two."

Jazz said nothing while Blaze seemed to be lost in thought. Spyro shrugged then followed Frederick and Cynder indoors. It was comfortably warm inside. There were two humans sparring with swords in the middle of the large room, obviously practicing. Two other humans sat on the sidelines, watching. Frederick led the two dragons around the sparring and toward a large fireplace on the other end of the room. In front of the fireplace sat a red dragon. Red scales, wings, belly, everything was red.

"Jaggle," Frederick began. "They've arrived."

Spyro and Cynder took their places behind the mysterious dragon. Frederick left the two alone with him, which made Spyro a bit less comfortable. He didn't know this dragon after all.

"I hear you've been looking for me," Jaggle began in a calm tone.

"Yes," Spyro replied. "We heard you might have some pure essence."

Jaggle seemed to chuckle for a moment. "Straight to the point. I like that." He turned to face the two dragons eye to eye. Even his eyes were red. "May I ask a question?"

"Of course," Cynder assured.

"What do you plan to do with the pure essence?"

Spyro and Cynder exchanged perplexed looks. The purple reptile answered. "We need it to cure a friend of ours. The pure essence is the only cure to save his life."

Jaggle shut his eyes in thought for a moment. He reopened them and said, "Pure essence can purify anything. Convexity is the opposite of pure and therefore, they cannot coexist together. It seems you know this as well. Frederick was right. You two do know what is going on in the city. I know about the six. The story has been explained to me numerous times as I grew up. I knew this day would eventually come, so I spent many days and nights, traveling to discover the pool which holds the pure essence."

Jaggle began to walk over towards a small chair near the fireplace. On top of it was a small bottle.

"I assume you found it?" Spyro asked.

Jaggle picked up the bottle and nodded. "Yes, not far from here, in the swamplands." He handed the bottle over to the purple dragon with care. "Use the essence with care. This is all I have left before I have to return to the swamp."

Spyro nodded.

"Thank you," Cynder conveyed. "For everything."

Jaggle nodded. "Of course." He turned to Spyro. "The essence is for Phantom correct?"

"Yes," Spyro simply answered. "Why?"

"Then listen closely," Jaggle began. "Phantom hasn't been cursed by convexity, but by the void. It is what makes him much stronger from the dark beings. The pure essence can cure him, but it will take more time than a dark being. You must pour the essence on Phantom and make sure his scales soak up the liquid. It may take a few minutes for this to work."

"So we're going to have to knock him out?" Cynder finished in question.

Jaggle nodded," I'm afraid so."

Spyro looked at the clear bottle for a moment. The liquid inside had a slight blue tint to it, other than that it looked like water. "Maybe if we set out a trap?"

"That could work," Cynder added.

"Yes," Jaggle replied. "It could. But be careful."

"So what will you do?" Spyro asked.

Jaggle looked at Spyro expectantly. "I will continue to save as many citizens as possible. But when the time comes . . . I'll be fighting along side of you. Along side of you all."

"It's great to have you on our side," Cynder happily replied. "I guess we better get back to Warfang."

Spyro nodded in agreement. "I'm sure Ignitus would want us to catch Phantom as soon as we can."

Jaggle remained quiet. He turned back toward the fireplace, watching it dance and enjoying it's warmth. Spyro and Cynder quietly left the dojo and found themselves back outside in the cold. The snow was still falling just as light as it was before.

"He seems nice," Cynder simply said.

Spyro nearly answered, until he was interrupted by Frederick. "Spyro, do you have a moment?"

"Of course," the purple dragon quickly replied. "What is it?"

Frederick looked down toward Blaze, then looked back toward the two dragons. "Blaze wished to go with you to the city."

"I've never been," Blaze added, acting a bit nervous. "I want to see what it's like."

Spyro and Cynder looked at one another. Cynder answered for the both of them. "Of course you can. We would be happy to take you there."

_Days Later_

The disappearances of the citizens went noticed. Horribly noticed. Shivertail was beginning to get visitors from random dragons, demanding for search parties. Shivertail knew it was no use, but sent out a search party regardless, just to make them leave him in peace. Now was not the time for constant interruptions. Especially since that Star was in the building.

Star had grown even more over the last few nights. He looked as if he was a healthy, energetic six year old dragon. When asked about his constant development, Star would only shrug and say that he was special. It also seemed he was getting the hang of changing his colors on his own. Although sometimes he would change into the wrong color. The first time he tried made Shivertail's day complete. Star change his color to pink by accident. But it was short-lived as Star immediately transformed into an orange color. Last time Shivertail checked, Star was still orange.

Spyro and Cynder had returned with Blaze. The last he heard of them, they were gathering Yin, Myrianda, Cosmo, and Isis together to tell them the plan. Everyone was accounted for, except for Isis.

_Market Square_

The market square was the best place to ask for directions. There was always someone there during the day, even when there was a thick blanket of snow on the ground. It had been a while since Cosmo had walked with a group as large as this. It was a seven dragon group, which included Kali. She figured since Isis was a friend that she would help in the search as well. She often studied Blaze, trying to figure him out. The blue dragoness couldn't figure out if he was timid, or just shy. It could have been both. She wondered how a timid dragon could actually help fight in a battle against the dark beings.

"Nothing," Yin said, as she returned from a nearby stall. "The vender only saw Isis once, but that was a few days ago."

Cynder finished, "Then there's no use in looking here."

"How about we search in groups?" Myrianda suggested.

Cosmo was actually a little surprised. "You mean the drunk came up with a rational idea?" Of course he was being sarcastic toward her. She knew that already.

"Sounds like a plan," Kali said. "So what are we going to do?"

Spyro noticed that nearly every dragon was looking at him. "Oh . . . uh . . . how about we have three groups? Me, Cynder, and Blaze could go one direction. Cosmo and Kali could go in another, and Yin and Myrianda could go another."

"Do I have to go with her?" Myrianda asked.

"Why?" Spyro began. "What's wrong with her?"

"She took my booze away. That wasn't very nice."

Spyro didn't feel like arguing with her at the moment. He rolled his eyes, "Fine. You can just go search somewhere by yourself if you want. You don't have to go in groups." He then turned to Blaze. "Blaze, could you help Yin out?"

Blaze was hesitant, but nodded.

Spyro smiled. "Thank you. We meet back here in three hours."

_Later_

Isis didn't know how much time had passed between the day the spell failed on her and now. But currently, she could have cared less. The cat chased a dark dragon down a random alleyway. When she caught him in a straight path, she reached out with her telekinesis and picked the dark being up in the air by his tail. The dark dragon pathetically lashed out toward the cat as she walked up under him, inches away from being swiped by his claws.

The black cat took no sympathy. She simply overused her telekinetic powers once again on him. The dark dragon's swiping suddenly stopped, but the growling continued. It only lasted a second before the dragon was brutally killed from the inside-out. The dark dragon vomited blood, which missed the cat just by a few inches. Afterwords, he fell limp and lifeless. Isis dropped the body to the ground and continued on her way. When she reached the end of the alleyway, he head began to ache.

The pain was even more intense this time. The cat layed down on the cold snow and held her head. Everything was beginning to black out on her, until the pain had finally subsided. She felt dizzy for a moment before she stood to her paws and continued her way.

She felt hungry. After all, the last time she ate was those scraps she found in a trash can last night. It was as if she was oblivious that all of her friends may be worried about her. Isis thought about going home, but every time she thought about it, another dark dragon would cross paths with her and she would forget about her friends. She was trapped in an endless cycle.

"This is all that magician's fault," Isis said to herself. "I hate him. I hate them all. All of them will pay for the pain they caused to me. And I'll make sure their death's are as painful as the rest."


	55. Grave Mistake

Chapter 55

Grave Mistake

Isis walked down the lonely, snow filled street. Everything was quiet, even the breeze was at a standstill. Yet for some reason, it all seemed peaceful. The cat wasn't worried about anything right now. The night sky was beautiful as the hundreds of stars twinkled down toward her. The planets added the beauty to the sky scenery and the moon was bright and full.

The cat made her way to the top of a building by levitating herself with her telekinesis, another useful skill which she had mastered a while back. It never gave her headaches, mainly because she never prolonged the use of it. Strangely, the top of the building was snow free.

Isis layed down on her back and looked up at the stars. She would have never considered herself a stargazer, but sights like this couldn't be enjoyed everyday. The black cat looked toward the side to spot a tall tower with a large clock built into the top. A basic clock tower, but this one was tallest out of them all. It read 9:47 p.m.

Finding out how tired she actually was, Isis decided to relax a little. Sleep would be next to impossible due to the cold, but she made the best of it. The cat closed her eyes for a little while. The cool breeze blew once more, making the cat feel grateful for her fur. Who knew how cold it actually was outside? But she had grown used to it by now.

Little did she knew that she was being watched by the last person she would ever expect. Only a few minutes had passed until the presence made itself known. She opened her eyes and spotted a glowing golden dragonfly looking at her from a few feet away.

"What?" Isis asked.

"Haven't I seen you before?" the golden dragonfly replied, a shiver in his voice.

Now that Isis looked this character over, he did seem vaguely familiar. "I could ask you the same thing." A second passed until she remembered. "Oh wait . . . weren't you Spyro's friend or something?"

"Sparx," he answered. "And you are . . . ."

"Isis."

Sparx nodded. "I knew I recognized you. I saw you last time I was here in the city." He hovered in his spot as he remembered the moment well. "Not really my best day ever."

Isis layed back down. "It could have been worse."

"It could have been better too."

Isis shrugged, then went into a more assertive tone. "So what are you hanging around here for?"

"Well I came to visit my basic brother to see how he was getting along."

Isis raised an eye, "You have a brother?"

"It's Spyro," Sparx simply answered as if he were in surprise. "Well he might as well be my brother, as much as we went through."

The cat didn't seem to care. If she did, she certainly didn't show it. She just remained quiet.

Sparx continued, seeing as if she wasn't going to talk. "So what are doing on this roof?"

"Again, I could ask you the same thing."

The dragonfly was simply curious, so he answered. "I was passing by to Spyro's house when I saw you sitting here by yourself."

"Were you worried?"

Sparx couldn't tell if she was getting annoyed with his presence or if she truly was wanting to make conversation with him. He decided to continue. "No, of course not. You just seemed familiar and I knew it would have been bugging me all day if I didn't find out. No pun intended."

Then Isis heard a noise down in the alleyway. It sounded like someone bumping into a trash can. "Did you hear that?"

Sparx shrugged his shoulders. "Could have been a rat."

But the question answered itself when a dragon jumped on the rooftop with the two of them. Isis pounced to her feet when she realized that it was a dark being. The dragon growled at her, making Sparx fly beside the cat.

"Who's that?" Sparx calmly asked.

Isis didn't have time for this bug's games. She closed her eyes in concentration, but before her telekinesis could attack, she was jumped. The dark being pounced toward her, making her leap out of the way. Her carelessness nearly made her fall of the rooftop.

Sparx through his hands up in the air. "Whoa whoa, can't we settle this peacefully?"

But before anything could be said, the dark being changed targets and jumped Sparx. Isis leaped in front of the bug in order to protect him. It had somehow worked, but she suffered for it.

"Isis!" Sparx exclaimed.

The cat was helpless underneath the dark being. It didn't take long for the cat to feel claws enter her chest, an intense amount of pain, then everything went dark.

_Meanwhile_

"So now what do we do?" Myrianda asked the purple dragon.

"Yin and Blaze still haven't arrived, so we wait here," Spyro answered in an obvious tone.

"But I don't like waiting," Myrianda whined. "Can I go somewhere else why we wait?"

"Sorry," Cynder grinned.

A moment passed. Then the pink dragoness asked again. "May I?"

Cosmo chuckled. "Well, that is a nicer way to ask."

"Still no," Kali finished.

The pink dragoness sighed. "Fine."

A few quiet minutes passed until Yin and Blaze finally showed themselves. However Blaze looked worried as well as Yin. Spyro saw it almost immediately.

"What is it?" Spyro asked, approaching the two of them. "Is something wrong?"

"She said she had a vision," Blaze answered. "I guess you would know more about this than me."

"What was your vision?" Cosmo added in concern.

"I saw Isis," Yin began. "She was sitting on a rooftop talking to a dragonfly named Sparx."

"Sparx?" Spyro perked up at the name.

Yin continued, "A dark dragon attacked Isis." Her voice began to whimper. "I think she . . . died."

"Died?" Kali repeated, feeling her heart sink. "She can't be dead!"

"Wait a moment," Cosmo interrupted. "Maybe this was a vision of the future. It's happened before right Yin?"

Yin slowly nodded. "Yes, it has. I remember seeing a tall clock tower in my vision. One of the tallest one's around. I think it said the time was 9:47.

Cynder looked around the market and spotted a small clock tower off to the side. "Look," she pointed. "It's only 9:45."

Kali could have leaped for joy. There was still a chance to save Isis. "So what are we waiting for?" She expanded her wings and took off into the air. The others did the same.

_Meanwhile_

Micha nearly fell asleep as she sat in a comfortable chair beside Torch's bed. Ever since Torch was put in the hospital, she had been staying at his bedside every chance she got. It was all she could do for him and she knew he would be grateful. The doctors were generally kind and always offered a conversation toward her. It always went appreciated, but whenever she would be asked about Torch's condition, she would stay quiet. All the doctors knew was that he was attacked, but not by whom.

For the price of the hospital bill, Micha could have had a heart attack. Who knew blood could have cost so much gems? But it was paid off. Someone was helping out in the bills and Micha wanted to know who.

Then the red dragon twitched on his bed. Micha took notice of it, but let it go. He had been doing that for a while now. The doctors only dismissed it as dreams and mentioned that it had nothing to do with his coma. Micha wished they were wrong, she wanted Torch back.

_9:47 P.M._

Sparx through his hands up in the air. "Whoa whoa, can't we settle this peacefully?"

But before anything could be said, the dark being changed targets and jumped Sparx. Isis leaped in front of the bug in order to protect him. It had somehow worked, but she suffered for it.

"Isis!" Sparx exclaimed.

The cat panicked. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't push the dragon off her, nor did she have enough time to use her telekinesis to throw him off either. She helplessly watched as the dark being's claw came toward her.

Isis remembered the first time she came to this world. It was frightening, but as the days past, she had grown used to the dragon world. Not even a soul knew that she used to be a human. All she could do was blend in, though it was hard to do being a fur dragon and all.

After all those months of living in the dragon world, this was it. The end of the line. Isis closed her eyes and readied herself for the inevitable to come.

"Look out!"

Isis didn't have time to react, but as soon as she opened her eyes, a fireball collided against the dark beings back. It gave the cat the distraction she needed to slip out from underneath the dark dragon and run over to the other side of the building for safety. It was then she noticed that she was saved by Spyro. The whole group of dragons was there with him. They had saved her life.

The black cat closed her eyes and concentrated on her telekinesis. She reached out and grabbed a hold of the dark being before he could attack her and held him up in the air.

"Isis!" Spyro yelled out. "Don't kill him!"

But it was as if the cat didn't even hear him. She threw the dark being toward the ground with enough force to kill him instantly. It wasn't a pretty sight. Sparx looked down toward the alleyway and seen enough insides to make him vomit. Luckily, he held it in.

"Isis!" Spyro scolded as he landed on the rooftop in front of her. "What is wrong with you? Didn't you hear me? I could have saved him!"

The other dragons landed behind him as Isis looked the purple dragon over. "I could honestly care less."

She turned and began walking the other way until Spyro's voice stopped her. "Care less? Isis, you murdered him!"

Isis turned her head, "As if he wouldn't have done the same to me. Or to any of you. I don't care if you have pure essence."

Spyro forced himself to calm down a little, but he never told Isis about the pure essence. He never got the chance to. "How do you know about that?"

"Did you think you were alone when Ignitus told you about Jaggle?"

Then Cynder joined in the conversation. "Wait, were you spying on us?"

Isis turned her head back toward the edge of the building. She calmed her voice down to a more serious tone. "It wasn't intended. But yes. I saw you two enter the hall, so I silently followed and hid in the room. It wasn't hard to get under the bed and listen in."

How could she have been that stealthy? It seemed almost impossible to sneak past Ignitus, but it seemed Isis done it with ease.

The cat was about to jump down to the ground below, but Cosmo stopped her. "Wait." The yellow dragon walked up behind her as she turned around to face her.

"What?"

Cosmo tone seemed as if he had forgotten what she did to that dark being. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in what feels like a week."

Isis was quiet for a moment, then silently answered. "Hunting."

"Hunting? For dark beings?"

Isis simply nodded.

Then Kali took her place beside Cosmo. "Why?"

The cat looked down toward the ground. "Someone has to. I mean, we have to keep them from kidnapping other dragons and all."

"That's great," Kali began. "If you were telling the truth. From what I saw earlier, you're killing them."

"Why are you really doing this?" Cosmo asked.

It took a moment, but then it seemed as if something inside of Isis cracked. "You want to know why?" Then she raised her voice. "It's because of what they did to me! Look at me! I can't fly! I can't use any element! And to top it all off, the only way I can defend myself is if I use my-"

Isis was interrupted by a sudden pain rushing to her head. She gripped her head by the intensifying pain but managed to continue, despite having everyone look at her worriedly. "Ability . . . which often . . . does this to me."

Everyone watch the cat in her pain, unable to do anything for her. Most of them felt bad for her. They never thought of her situation that way.

A minute passed until Isis seemed to be fine. "Someone is going to pay for this curse! And if it's going to be those dark beings, then so be it."

"Isis," Cosmo began.

"Shut it," the cat interrupted. "I'm tired of holding my anger in and I don't care who get's hurt."

Before another word was said, Isis jumped off the building. She used her telekinetic powers to soften the landing and quickly disappeared into the dark alleyways.

Cosmo looked at Kali first, dumbstruck by Isis's decision, then at the rest of them.

"So Spyro how's it goin'?" Sparx boastfully asked.

Spyro sighed. "Not now Sparx." He then turned to everyone else. "So I guess we're gonna have to catch Phantom on our own."

"Catch Phantom?" Yin repeated.

"I have pure essence to cure him and revert him back to Clover," Spyro explained. "So we're gonna have to track him down and capture him."

"How can we?" Myrianda asked. "From what I remember, this is someone you don't want to meet in a dark alley."

"We're going to have to set a trap," Cynder suggested.

"I'm liking this plan," Sparx smirked. "I haven't heard mention of me yet so it sounds perfect."

_The Following Day_

_Elder Hall_

Sleep was hard for Cosmo to find. It really bothered him on what Isis had been doing the entire time she was missing. He never would have guessed that she was intentionally finding dark being's, just so she could kill them. Kali found it hard to believe as well, of course, but it didn't keep her up at night. Which was strange. Kali was closer to the cat than anyone else so he thought it would have been bugging her even more. Maybe she just found a way to deal with it.

The two of them were in Star's room in front of the fireplace. They thought that Ignitus or Shivertail would know what to do for Isis before she gotten herself hurt, or even killed. Cosmo knew it was possible, Yin's vision proved that.

"So your name is Cosmo," Star asked, sitting in front of the two of them. The orange dragon then looked at the blue female. "And your name is Kali?"

"Yes," Cosmo sighed as if he had told him this for the hundredth time.

"Aren't you supposed to have a babysitter or something?" Kali politely asked.

Star quickly shook his head. "I'm too old for a babysitter because I'm not a baby anymore."

He jumped up and down for joy, smiling as he did. Cosmo rolled his eyes. "How can one dragon be so energetic?"

Kali shrugged. "Wish I knew."

Whatever it was, neither of them could figure it out. Seeing as how Shivertail wasn't in his office, they really had no choice but to wait for someone to come. Plus, leaving Star in his room by himself didn't seem that very smart, so they just watched him for a bit. They knew Shivertail wouldn't mind.

It only took a minute for Felenia to arrive in the room. She looked a bit surprised to see Cosmo and Kali watching Star, but it made her smile. "Not so easy is it?"

"He's so energetic," Kali replied. "I wonder why he's like that."

Felenia watched the toddler a few seconds before answering with that same smile. "It's because he's been growing abnormally. All that energy growing inside of him and little time to use it. You'll often see him jumping up and down or talking really fast or even unable to sleep." She took in a deep breathe and let it out. "It can be difficult keeping up with him, but it's worthwhile." Her frown disappeared as Star looked out the window and out onto the streets. "So why are you two here? I'm sure it's not to babysit."

Cosmo chuckled. "No, it's not."

"We're here to see Ignitus and Shivertail," Kali answered. "We want to talk to them."

"Okay," Felenia began. "They're in the basement. I'm sure you can see them right now if you wish."

"Thanks," Cosmo obliged.

The two of them left Felenia to do her job and made their way down the hall. They passed Shivertail's office and turned down a small corridor. Only a few dragons were guarding it and questioned the reason of why Cosmo and Kali were in the Hall. But when Cosmo mentioned his name, the guards let him pass. It didn't take long for them to find the doorway, which led downstairs and into the basement. Inside they found Ignitus and Shivertail speaking to each other about something. But the conversation ceased when they seen the two new faces in the area.

"Greetings Cosmo and Kali," Shivertail cheerfully greeted. "What brings you two here?"

"Unfortunately it's bad news," Cosmo replied.

"It is about Isis," Kali finished.

Ignitus looked at the two of them with concern. "I know. And you two wish to know what to do about her?"

Cosmo nodded, not questioning the dragon's on how he knew that. "How can we talk some sense into her?"

Ignitus glanced over at Shivertail, then back at Cosmo and Kali. He sounded calm and collective as he always did. "Sometimes talking won't work. Especially if that someone is caught up in his beliefs. Isis is no different."

"So what do we do?" Kali impatiently asked.

"You must wait for her to make her move. Patience is the key in this kind of situation."

"Wait?" Cosmo said, expecting something more from the wise dragon. "That's it?"

Ignitus nodded. "I'm afraid that is all you can do."

Cosmo thought it through but couldn't figure out how waiting would solve this problem. "Alright then, I won't question your answer."

Just as Cosmo and Kali turned to leave, Ignitus spoke up. "I wish you good luck in capturing Phantom. It's a risky plan but I understand that it is necessary."

"Thanks," Cosmo dankly replied.

_The next night_

It was another cold night. The sky was completely clean of clouds, giving Isis another chance to stargaze like she did the other night. But it didn't interest her. When she was nearly killed by that dark being, she rarely let her guard down, especially at night. The dark beings seemed fond to the dark and they always seemed to be more active in the city at night.

The cat was pacing herself down the street. Only a few citizens passed by her. They hardly payed attention to the cat as if they had grown used to seeing her around. Being a cat definitely wasn't as fun as it used to be. Another reason to be angry at those cursed dragons.

Most of the snow had melted, but some had still remained. It was more like ice though. Isis avoided the ice whenever she saw it. She didn't want cold feet at the moment.

Eventually Isis grew tired of walking and decided to lay down near some steps with a wall against her back. She felt more comfortable that way. It prevented anyone or any dragon from sneaking up behind her. Plus it was a habit she developed over the past few days.

Soon she began to doze off. Isis realized that she was falling asleep, which was something she didn't want to do right now, especially here. She rubbed her eyes the best she could to wake herself up.

Then she heard a door creak open. She looked to her right to see a dragon stepping outside from the small house she was resting in front of. A white dragoness looked around for a moment, then noticed the cat looking up at her.

"Well what do we have here?" she asked herself. Her voice seemed nice enough. "I can't seem to recall the last time I've seen a cat around here."

Isis remained quiet.

"I bet you're famished. How about we have a get together indoors for the time being? It's much too cold outdoors, even for one such as you."

It was true. Isis hadn't eaten all day. She was hesitant for a moment, not knowing she could trust someone like this. But soon a whiff of meat came upon her nostrils. It only made her appetite even worse.

"Come on now. It's absolutely frigid out here."

She didn't want to, but she did it anyways. She walked inside the dragon's home as careful as she could. As soon as she entered, she took note of her surroundings. The house was actually pretty small. She looked around the room she was in and guessed it for a living room. It only consisted of a bookcase filled with books, a black couch, and a fireplace.

"It surely is much warmer in here is it not?" the dragon rhetorically asked the cat. "Now let's get you fed."

Isis followed the dragoness into the next room, which happened to be her kitchen. It only held a small table with two chairs on both sides, and a counter, which was too high for Isis to see what was on it. Isis could see out of a window over by the table but it was too dark to see what was on the other side. She didn't bother to use her night vision. Probably wasn't nothing worth seeing.

Then the dragoness set a small bowl down with a hunk of freshly cooked meat inside. It could have been lamb but the cat wasn't sure. So she decided to take a bite.

It was definitely lamb. She could taste some spices and garlic in it as well. It had to be the best thing she had eaten for a good while now. So she dug into her food without any second thoughts.

"I'm glad to see that you relish my cookery," the dragoness smiled.

She silently made her way into the living room to enjoy the warmth of the fire, leaving Isis in the kitchen by herself. The cat looked up on the shelf again as she chewed and was finally able to see a few things. A few cabinets, a stack of paper with a quill beside it. And a few inkwells.

Isis savored every bite of her generous meal. She didn't know why this dragon was being so kind to her. The way she talked, she couldn't have come from around here. It was her accent and way with words that gave that away.

When she finished, she looked back into the living room. The dragoness didn't seem to notice her. She was reading a book. So Isis turned back into the kitchen and looked back up at the shelf. She had to show her appreciation somehow. Unfortunately this was all she could do at the time.

A few minutes later, she walked back into the living room with the dragoness. The cat stood in front of the fire to have the dragoness notice her.

"Enjoy your meal?" she asked.

Isis still remained quiet. She didn't want to spook her. The cat only walked back toward the door and waited by it.

The dragoness stood to her feet. "You need to go?" She slowly walked toward the door, wearing a disappointed look on her face. "Well, I understand. But if you ever get hungry, then I'm right here."

She opened the door and Isis slowly walked outside.

"Bye," the dragoness waved.

As soon as Isis was out of sight. The dragoness closed the door. She felt a sense of loneliness rush inside of her, but she was used to it. She walked into the kitchen to pick up the bowl Isis ate out of. It was completely empty. The dragoness smiled as she set it on the shelf, then noticed something. There was a piece of paper with writing on it. She walked over to it and read it.

"Thank you?" the dragoness read. "This wasn't here before . . . unless."

She smiled. "you're welcome."

Isis, by now, was already a good ways down the street. She didn't know how to thank dragon's properly being a cat and all, but she figured she did the best she could. There was only so much a lonely cat could do after all.

_Meanwhile_

It seemed as if Cosmo wasn't going to be able to get any sleep. He laid in a bed along with Kali, trying his best to not disturb her, although it wasn't working like he had hoped for. If Cosmo couldn't sleep, then he would constantly toss and turn.

"What's wrong?" Kali dozily asked. She yawned just as she finished.

Cosmo sighed. "It's Isis. I can't help but wonder if she's safe right now or not."

Kali knew what he meant. "Don't worry about her. I'm sure she's fine."

"But what if she does something rash? What if she does more than kill a dark being?"

"Like what?" Kali asked, wanting to know. She was pretty much awake at this point so she sat up in the bed beside the yellow dragon.

Cosmo searched his mind for possibilities, then quickly came up with one. "What if she hurts someone else?"

"I don't think Isis would intend to hurt anyone else other than a dark being."

"Yes," Cosmo began. "But what if that dark being was Phantom?"

Kali was interested by now. "What are you getting at?"

"I mean, what if Isis murders Phantom?"

Kali was quiet for a moment. She never thought of it that way. "Then she would murder Clover. Then the six wouldn't be able to train Star in all of the elements."

"And that could result in us losing the upcoming fight," Cosmo finished. "Kali, we have to stop Isis before she does something she will regret."

"But do you remember what Ignitus said?" Kali recalled. "He said that we needed patience and wait for Isis to make her move."

"But what if that move is killing Phantom?"

"Then let's hope that it isn't," Kali answered.

_Later_

Three of them. Isis didn't see this coming.

She jumped out of the way as a dark being charged right by her. All of them ambushed her right in the middle of the street. Clearly they knew that she was responsible for a large amount of their kind's deaths, which had to be the reason why she was getting attacked in such a desperate manner.

Isis noticed an empty but small wooden cart off to the side of the street. Before the other two dark beings could reach her, she picked the cart up with her ability and threw it toward the dark being closest to it. The object collided against the dark dragon's side, knocking him down. It gave Isis the chance to dodge the other dark being's charge and run down the street. The cat was more agile, therefore she ran faster than the dark beings for the time being.

As she ran by the dark being she hit with the cart earlier, she closed her eyes and picked him up with her telekinesis. She never used her ability while running, but it seemed to work the same. It just tired her out a bit more. As soon as she got a good hold of the dragon, she threw him as hard as she could at the dark dragon's behind her. It knocked them all down, but somehow it didn't kill any of them.

Isis eyed the cart she had thrown earlier. It was still in one piece, so she picked it up with her telekinesis before the dark beings could get up to their feet. As soon as they began their relentless charge, she threw the cart once more. But the dark being's stopped as soon as she threw it. The cart clashed against the street in front of them, smashing the cart into pieces. The dark beings gave chase once again. Then Isis closed her eyes once again. But instead of attacking, she began to levitate herself up into the air. The dark beings stopped and tried to jump and grab her, but she was too far up. The cat landed herself on top of the nearest building and began to run down it. The dark beings followed.

Isis stayed near the edge to keep an eye on the three annoyances. She wasn't done with them yet. They had to die. As soon as she was close enough to the broken cart, she reached out with her telekinesis and grabbed a weapon. A thick and long board.

The first thing she did with it was attack the nearest dark being with it by beating him relentlessly with it. The first hit had enough force to break the dragon's jaw. After a few hits, it knocked him out. It only gave Isis the chance to beat him to death with the board even more. The other dark beings jumped onto the floating weapon, but it wasn't enough to keep the cat from slaughtering the defenseless dragon. He was as good as dead.

The remaining two finally got a hold to Isis's weapon and managed to claw it down to nothing but pieces. Isis only smirked at the pathetic attempt to defend themselves. As long as she was up on the roof, she was safe. The dark being's were sure to at least figure it out by now.

Isis, looked at the rubble from the cart once more. She enveloped the whole pile in her telekinesis, and threw the whole pile toward the last two dragons. One of them dodged most of the attack, he only suffered a few small wounds. The other wasn't so lucky. Isis smiled as he saw a large board sticking out of his chest, plus a few other shards of wood sticking out of him from everywhere on his body.

The other dark dragon knew he was outmatched, so he turned to make it a run for it. This was the first time Isis had ever witness a dark being flee. But nevertheless, it didn't matter. Isis jumped down off the building and used her ability to soften her landing. As soon as she did, she grabbed the fleeing dragon with her telekinesis and pulled him closer. The dark being clawed at the ground, trying to stop himself from being pulled toward the cat. But it didn't work, it only broke a few of his claws off in the street.

Isis held the dark being upside-down and looked into his eyes and she went to work on his insides. She crushed his lungs first, then broke his ribs. The cat could see the pain in his eyes. She only smiled at it. Then she put a grip on the dragon's heart.

"Please."

Isis stopped in her tracks. Did she just hear the dark dragon beg? The cat smiled. She slowly crushed the dragon's heart to her pleasure, and watched as the dragon took it's last breath. When the dark being was dead, she dropped the body onto the ground.

It wasn't long before an intense headache came to her. It was painful. She thought her head was going to burst. It was so intense that she was clawing at the ground, begging the pain to stop. But it continued. It continued to the point where tears began to fall from her eyes.

Then the pain began to subside. Isis silently began to thank whatever was making it go away as she opened her eyes. Then she saw how much blood she had spilled.

The dragon she had beat to death with the board laid in the middle of the street. His neck was oddly craned and his front left leg seemed to bend at an odd angle. He laid on the street, bleeding through his mouth, dead.

Then Isis turned to another. He laid on the side of the street with pieces of shrapnel in his body. A large board was also through his chest. If it didn't go through his heart, then he died from having his lung punctured.

The last one almost made Isis gasp. She could see the ribs broken in his chest and he didn't lose as much blood as the others, but that wasn't the problem. The cat didn't see it before, but this dragon was just a small toddler. A small toddler that asked her 'please', and she didn't listen.

"What have I done?"

Then she noticed another dragon approach her. It looked like a dark being, but Isis had other thoughts.

"Bravo," the dragon applauded. "I'm impressed."

Isis clenched her teeth. "Phantom."

"Not only did you kill all three dark being's by yourself, but you did it without even sustaining a scratch. Pretty good, for a cat." He walked up from out of the shadows to reveal himself. Isis watched him carefully. "I knew you were different from the others as soon as I set my eyes on you in Velxtra Forest."

"I don't care for you opinion you swine," Isis retorted.

"Whatever do you mean?" Phantom grinned. "You mercilessly killed all three of these dragons and didn't even listen to this toddlers plea." Phantom crouched down near the dead toddler, mocking him. As he spoke. "Just look at him. It looked like a painful way to go the way you did him in. Don't worry, I'm sure he felt everything."

Isis's anger was on the precipice of bursting. "I swear to you Phantom. If you continue to mock me then I will kill you."

"Just like you did to these three innocent beings?" Phantom continued, not even phased by the threat. "Not to mention all those days of you hunting these dragons down and killing them just for sport."

The cat couldn't take it any more. She pounced toward Phantom, claws out, aiming for his eyes. The dragon only grinned as he retreated into the shadows, disappearing from sight. Isis growled as she search around the area for him.

"Phantom! Show yourself you coward!"

But he never did. Phantom had disappeared without a trace. Isis was angry by the fact Phantom had mocked her, but she slowly regained her composure. Then she shed a tear. The cat looked over at the toddler's darkened body and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

_The Following Morning_

Cosmo had slept in a little later than what he was used to. Somehow, he had finally fallen asleep last night by Kali's comfort, but still didn't manage his eight hours of sleep.

He stood to his feet as he rubbed his eyes. Then the smell of eggs came rushing to his nose. As soon as he took a good sniff, his stomach growled.

"_I didn't realize I was that hungry_," Cosmo thought.

The yellow scaled dragon groggily made his way through the living room and into the kitchen to see Kali greeting him with a smile.

"Sleep well?" Kali asked.

Cosmo shrugged. "Sort of. Better than no sleep at all I suppose."

Then the duo heard the front door open, then shut a moment later. Cosmo looked at Kali, then make his way to see who it was. He became surprised at who he saw.

"Isis?" Cosmo began. The cat looked up at him with an obvious burden on her mind. "Are you alright?"

Then Kali entered the room. Isis sat down on the carpet and looked down. "What is it Isis?"

Isis shut her eyes. "I did something bad." There was a slight tremble in her voice.

It wasn't often to find Isis in this state, though it had been happening recently since her curse became permanent. Cosmo tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

Kali took her place beside Cosmo, wondering the same thing. She watched the cat shed a tear, which made her heartbroken. "It's okay Isis. you're among friends."

It was like time was at a standstill. Everything was so quiet, you could hear the slightest breeze blow from outside. It took a few silent moments for Isis to muster the courage to speak, and when she did, it was quiet.

"I'm a murderer." The cat's voice raised a little. "Spyro was right. I should have stopped myself and listened to him when I had the chance."

"Whoa Isis," Cosmo interrupted, sounding dumbstruck by her behavior. "Slow down. Tell us what happened. We can help."

"You can't help what's already been done," Isis replied, sounding a bit insecure. "I should have listened, but now I've realized that I've gone too far."

"What happened last night?" Kali asked with concern.

Isis sighed. They could almost hear fear in the cat. "I killed more of them last night. But the last dragon I killed made me realize what I was doing. The dark being's still have hope, but I stole that hope away. It only took a toddler to make me figure that out."

"A toddler?" Cosmo questioned.

Isis raised her voice. "I killed a toddler last night," Isis finally answered. Another tear fell from her cheek. "And you know what scares me the most Cosmo? I enjoyed it."

"That's not true," Kali immediately retorted. "You didn't know what you were doing."

"Yes I did," Isis replied. "I couldn't control my anger. I just couldn't stop myself until it was too late. I knew something was going to happen to me because of this, but I didn't know it would cost me so much."

_Meanwhile_

_Elder Hall_

_Star's Room_

"There are basically fifteen elements for you to know about Blaze," Ignitus explained.

Blaze nodded. He had agreed to let Ignitus teach him a few things about the elements right now, considering he didn't have much of anything to do at the moment. It was Spyro's idea anyways.

Ignitus continued as he eyed Star in his bed, still asleep. "Fire, ice, electricity, earth, shadow, poison, fear, wind, convexity, light, water, plasma, gamma, madness, and the void." Ignitus took a deep breathe and continued. "The rarest one's are plasma, gamma, madness, and the void."

"So what exactly does madness do?" Blaze asked. He was particular interested in this element because he possessed it.

"Madness can send suicidal thoughts to your enemies, or drive them to insanity," Ignitus explained. "It depends on how you use it."

"What do you mean by insanity?"

"They see things that aren't there." Ignitus seemed to be in thought for a moment then continued. "For example, you send out waves of madness toward an enemy, and in his point of view, he can become surrounded by his enemies. He will most likely attack these imaginary enemies as if they are really there. Eventually, he will either tire out, or become mad."

"I think I understand," Blaze said. "Thank you for telling me. So if I may ask, who possesses the void element? I haven't heard of any dragon with that ability."

"Unfortunately, Clover claims possession of this element. But it's dangerous and should only be used as a last resort. It is possible to unintentionally trap a friend in the void, so it's best to use it as far away as from others as possible."

"What about Isis?" Blaze asked. "I heard she was supposed to be a fur dragon but when I saw her, she was a cat. Why is that?"

Ignitus closed his eyes as he recounted the tale in his mind. Then he answered in a slow and steady manner. "She was cursed a few months ago by a dangerous wizard. We tried to break the curse by performing a ritual."

"Tried?" Blaze began. He seemed distressed for a moment. "So I'm guessing it didn't work?"

"I didn't say that," Ignitus simply replied. "But Isis has been troubled recently and I'm afraid if she doesn't calm herself, she may not discover the true nature of the spell we cast upon her. Her recent actions have really been worrisome, but I think she may have discovered a lesson here."

Blaze heard Star move underneath the covers in his bed, making him look over toward the quickly growing toddler. It seemed he was still sleeping though. "So what's been bothering her?"

"Isis is afraid of herself."


	56. Unexpected Help

Chapter 56

Unexpected Help

A week had passed since Isis made that mistake. It haunted her. Watching the life leave from a toddlers eyes was too unbearable to forget. The cat knew the others were worried, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. Isis just wished to herself that she could be more kind to everyone. She wished she could be like Cosmo or Spyro. Or even that white dragoness that fed her that unforgettable night.

Kali made herself comfortable in front of the fireplace, watching the fire and keeping warm from the chilly outdoors. It was snowing again, but it wasn't cold enough for the snow to stay. It melted as soon as it touched the ground.

Kali looked over at Cosmo, who occupied the rest of the couch. "You think she is going to be okay?"

Cosmo looked down in Isis's small bed beside the fireplace. The cat was curled up and sleeping the day away. He assumed she was referring to Isis. "I don't know. I'm worried about her. She hasn't done much over the past week. Whenever we go out to find Phantom, she never tags along."

"She hasn't left the house ever since she made that mistake of her's either. And to top it off, she rarely eats."

Cosmo sighed. "We need to convince her to forget about what happened that night. She can't change the past no matter how much she wants to try. If she's stays like this then she won't train Star in the elements. I'm sure the Chronicler can train Star to an extent, but I don't know if he can train him with the plasma element."

Kali sat quiet for a moment, watching the cat sleep. "So do you know how to combine elements yet?"

Cosmo shrugged. "Sort of. Ignitus has been teaching me and Blaze about that since everyone else knows about it. Blaze is shy but he's a fast learner. He can pretty much combine his elements as he pleases."

"What about you?"

"It took hard work but I managed to pull it off a few times."

Then the yellow dragon looked down at Isis. He was more worried about this cat than anyone else. Cosmo thought about it, then decided that when she woke up, he was going to have a talk with her.

_Meanwhile_

Isis looked around herself. It was obviously a dream considering her surroundings were pitch black, and the only thing that was visible were stars, both above and below her. It was as if she were walking on thin air. She remembered having a dream like this once. But it was a long time ago.

She did the only thing she could do in her dream. She walked.

After a few minutes, she grew slightly confused as to why she was having this dream.

"Hello!" Isis shouted.

Her voice seemed to echo into the black shadows.

"Is there anyone out there!"

After a few moments, Isis began to hear murmur in the distance. She couldn't make it out. The voice was too muffled.

The cat shivered to herself. This feeling she was having was giving her the creeps. She didn't like this place one bit. This dream couldn't be related to those dreams she had in the past. It couldn't be, it just didn't feel right.

As Isis neared the muffled murmur, a small black dragon came into view. He was laying on the ground with his head twisted in an odd way. Isis could see some of his ribs were broken as well. Then the cat grew frightened at what was happening.

"No no no no no," Isis muttered. She put her paws on her head and layed down on the cold hard ground. "Not this. Not this. I don't like this at all, no I don't."

Then she heard a crack. The cat looked up to see the dragon standing to his feet, regardless of his neck being completely broken and having it dangling to the side. It could have made anyone vomit at how disgusting it was.

"This isn't real. It's just a dream. It's not real. Nothing here is real."

The dragon slowly approached Isis as she looked up at him. It looked exactly like the toddler she murdered that night. The cat closed her eyes and began to rock back and forth on the ground. She began to hum a melody in an attempt to comfort herself.

Then the dragon screamed at Isis. The scream was loud and ear piercing, but Isis still hummed her melody, failing to notice the tears in her eyes. Not tears of sadness, but tears of fear.

The constant humming was getting annoying in the black dragon's eyes, so he used his tail to hit Isis hard enough to send her flying a few feet. The blow knocked the breathe out of her as she tumbled away from the black dragon. The pain felt so real. It wasn't possible. It couldn't have been.

Isis never knew how small she felt until now. Her confidence was gone. Fear had taken its place.

_Meanwhile_

_Market Square_

This was a bad idea. Felenia knew that Shivertail wanted Star to go outside for a while, but this? Go shop with her? This was insane. Shivertail knew the risks. What if Star changed colors right in the middle of the market? What kind of uproar would that cause?

"Felenia! Felenia! There's some shiny rocks in the water!" Star exclaimed as he peered into the famous wishing fountain in the middle of the square. Several gems were at the bottom of the water, making Star reach down into the water in an attempt to snag one of the shiny rocks.

"Star no!" Felenia quickly made her way toward the hyperactive dragon just in time to stop him. "You can't just take those."

"But why!"

"Because these are other dragon's wishes. If you them then they won't come true."

Star looked back down into the water then hatched an idea. "Can I make a wish?"

Felenia nodded. "Of course you can. Do you know how?" The white dragon dug in a backpack she carried underneath her wings and grabbed a green gem. "All you do is hold this gem, then think if anything you want. Then you drop it in the water."

Star accepted the green gem then said, "That's all?"

Felenia smiled. "Yes, that's all you do."

It was quick, but Star made his wish and dropped the gem in the water. He watched it sink to the bottom then smiled.

At the moment, Star had green scales and a white underbelly with orange wings. But who knew when that ability of his would kick in? Felenia knew how much energy Star had inside him so there was no telling when his colors would change.

"You ready to go?" the caretaker asked impatiently.

"Go where?"

"Back home."

"Can we visit Spyro and Cynder?"

Surprised by the question, she answered a few moments later. "I guess we can if that's what you want. Why do you want to visit them?"

"Because they are my real mommy and daddy!"

Felenia's heart skipped a beat. She had never heard Star say something like that, much less in a crowd full of shoppers, which were now staring at Star.

"What was that?" someone in the crowd murmured.

"Spyro's son?"

"Cynder's daughter?"

Soon, the whole crowd were murmuring to each other about what just happened. Felenia looked toward Star and said to herself, "Oh, this cannot end well."

_Ten Minutes Later_

Spyro relaxed on the couch, comfy and toasty in front of the fireplace. Cynder sat beside him, reading a book as she usually did. Tonight they would be helping Cosmo and the others search for Phantom like they had been doing for the last week. So far they had no luck, other than running into a few dark beings, in which Spyro saved with his pure essence. He had plenty so it wasn't a problem.

"I'm bored," Spyro said as he stretched his limbs, still seated on the couch.

"Read a book," Cynder cheerfully replied as she flipped a page in hers.

The purple dragon yawned. "I'll pass."

"Then do you wanna go out and get something to eat? It's almost lunch time."

Spyro shrugged. "I suppose we can. What about you Sparx?" The purple dragon looked towards the window behind him to see the golden dragonfly staring outside and into the street.

"I'm not hungry right now." He didn't sound too enthusiastic about it.

"So you're just gonna stay here?" Cynder assumed.

"Might as well. I could catch a nap while you two aren't here to bother me."

Neither dragon seemed offended. They had grown used to him by now.

"So how much longer you going to stay with us?" Spyro asked, standing to his feet.

"Until this whole mess with these dark forces are done and over with," Sparx replied. He turned to look at Spyro in the eye. "To tell you the truth, I was hoping to come and give you two a visit without the fear of being eaten by an evil dragon. But now that I know there's a lot of them out in the city, especially at night, I've decided to stay here where it's safe."

Spyro nearly flinched at what he said about there being a lot of them. It was more than distressful to know that there were dark beings in the city. And their numbers were slowly growing while Warfang's population slowly decreased in unison.

He knew the residents were beginning to catch on about all the disappearances in the city. Just the other day they went to Shivertail about it for the second time, demanding for search parties. Shivertail, once again, complied and did what they told him to do, only to get them out of his office. Now was not the time for constant interruption.

"So yes or no on Lateef's?" Cynder asked.

Spyro snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh yeah Lateef's sounds great," Spyro happily answered.

Cynder showed a grin. "Alright then. Let's get going."

The two dragons left the premises leaving Sparx behind in the safety of the house. Time seemed to slow as they walked. It gave Spyro the time to get a good look around the city itself. He found it to be a bit more barren than what it used to be. He swallowed a lump that appeared in his throat. It didn't use to be like this. The city was always lively and loud, not all quiet. There were still dragons walking the streets, of course, but not as many as there used to be.

As the duo neared the restaurant, Spyro became pleased to see a large crowd of dragons up ahead. It gave him comfort seeing them. Perhaps the disappearances wasn't as bad as he had anticipated.

But as the two dragons made their way through the crowded street, Spyro began to feel a little odd. They kept mumbling to each other, barely loud enough for him to hear.

"Look, it's Spyro."

"It's hard to believe he's a father already."

"Where's his son?"

Son? Spyro had the strangest feeling that something wasn't right here. Cynder looked at him and he could tell just by the look on her face that she knew what was going on as well. Cynder just shrugged and continued walking beside Spyro. The purple had no choice but to keep walking and try to ignore the constant babbling of the citizens.

A few minutes later, they passed the market square. It was actually more lively than Spyro and Cynder were anticipating. The purple dragon was happy to see things wasn't as bad as he thought.

Just as they passed by the market square and into the next street, Spyro noticed a familiar dragon standing near an alleyway.

"Pst," the white dragon went. "Over here," she motioned.

"Felenia?" Spyro assumed, wondering what she was doing.

The duo made their way toward her, making note of a small crowd of dragons watching them from behind.

"Into the alley," Felenia whispered.

Then Spyro and Cynder noticed Star. They grew surprised at his presence but stayed quiet for the time being. The group made their way down the alley a little ways, until Felenia finally turned around in satisfaction.

"This should be good for right now," Felenia indicated. She sounded a bit on edge.

"What's going on?" Cynder asked in a low tone. "Why is Star here? Shouldn't he be at the Elder Hall?"

Felenia looked down at the growing toddler. He almost looked like he was six years old now. "That's what I told Shivertail. I knew it wasn't the best idea to show him around quite yet, and now we have a small problem."

"What sort of problem?" Spyro asked. "It's not dark beings is it?"

The tall white dragoness shook her head, "No it's not that." She seemed a bit hesitant but continued. "Star thinks . . . you are his parents."

"What?" Cynder nearly exclaimed.

Star smiled. "Only because it's true."

Spyro looked down at the small dragon, slightly confused in the matter. "What makes you say that we are your parents Star?"

"Because you and Cynder found my egg."

"Who told you that?" Cynder politely asked.

Star kept his grin. "I heard you two while I was in my egg. It wasn't hard."

Confounded, all three dragons looked at each other. After a few seconds, Felenia was the first to speak. "Well . . . I've never heard of something like this ever happening, but I suppose it can be possible. No one ever told him that you two actually brought the egg to the Elder Hall." The white dragoness shrugged. "It's the only possible way."

"Well I don't think we have any other choice but to believe him right now," Spyro said.

Then the sound of dragons talking was heard down the alleyway just around the corner.

Cynder looked back at Felenia. "Is there any chance that a crowd of dragons may have figured out about this?"

"Yeah," Spyro began. "Everyone started acting strange when they saw us."

Felenia went quiet for a moment. She looked down at Star to find he wasn't smiling anymore. He seemed to be lost in thought. "Star may have announced that you two were his parents in the middle of the market."

Spyro cringed. "What?" He looked at Cynder to find her smiling. Which was odd. "Why are you smiling? Didn't you just hear her?"

"I did," Cynder replied. "Everyone thinks I'm a mother."

"There nothing good about that!" Spyro nearly exclaimed. "Everyone thinks I'm a father! How are we going to explain this whole misunderstanding to a crowd of dragons?"

"It may be too late for that," Felenia indicated. "Word travels fast around the market."

"So what will we be able to do?" Spyro asked, hoping for a good answer.

Felenia thought for a good moment, then finally answered. "Live with it." Then the group heard some ruckus from the other end of the alley they were in. It wasn't the crowd of dragons, it was something else. "Besides," Felenia began. "I feared that I was being followed."

"By who?" Cynder asked, trying to peer down the alley.

But the question answered itself when a dark being showed himself from around the corner down the alleyway. The creature stared down at them and spotted its target. Star.

Star looked back at the dragon. His smile was gone. Spyro couldn't tell what he was thinking, but now wasn't the time to think about that.

"A dark dragon?" Cynder said in surprise. "Spyro, please tell me you brought some pure essence with you."

Spyro found himself in a near panic when he heard Cynder. "No, I didn't think we would need it!"

"Then we have to kill him," Felenia calmly replied. "With Star on the line, we have no choice."

As much as Spyro hated to admit it, she was right. It had to be done. It was too much of a risk.

"Shouldn't be much of a problem," Cynder smiled. "There's three of us and one of him."

"I'm afraid you are wrong Cynder," Felenia lowly responded. "Look closer."

Cynder looked down the alleyway once more. She spotted even more dark beings than before, slowly making their way down the alleyway toward them. It was hard to tell, but she counted six of them.

"I really wished I would have brought the pure essence," Spyro sadly said.

"Felenia," Cynder began. "Why don't you fly Star out of here while me and Spyro take care of our guests?"

"Are you sure?"

Spyro nodded. "It will be much more safe that way."

"No!" Star objected. "I wanna stay with my real mom and dad!"

Then the lead dark being began to charge.

"Star!" Cynder shouted. "Go with Felenia! Now! I promise we will come and visit you later!"

Cynder charged along with Spyro to give Felenia a chance to take off with Star. As soon as she was close enough, she used her fear and shouted at the group of dark beings. They seemed hardly affected, which was pretty typical. So she switched to shadow and turned invisible.

Spyro knew what she was up to. He provided a distraction by letting out hot flames onto the first dark being that charged him. It made the dark dragon pause along with the one's behind him. As soon as Spyro had to take a breath, Cynder appeared behind the group.

She lobbed a glob of poison onto the nearest dragon. It burned his scales but he was still standing. He turned around along with two others to attack, but not before Cynder could switch elements to wind. The black dragoness created a twister as fast as she could, with her being in the middle. It sucked the three black dragons up as they collided with each other, circling with the wind around the black dragoness. They tried to reach out toward Cynder in the middle, but they were just out of reach.

When Cynder began to feel fatigue set in, she used her wind to throw the dark beings behind her. They flew a few feet before hitting the ground. One of them landed on his feet, the second one tumbled, but was still alive. The last one was badly hurt. The poison seemed to have finally burned through his scales and he wasn't moving.

Spyro had already defeated one of the dark beings with an earth missile. The other two were itching for their revenge on the purple dragon. Spyro stood on his ground when they charged him simultaneously. When they were close enough, he jumped toward the right in an attempt to dodge. It was reckless, flying upwards would have worked better, but somehow he slipped by them, despite the small space he was in. The purple dragon quickly turned around in time to zap the nearest one with electricity. The other dark being took evasive action as electricity arced toward him as it zapped his partner. He could only watch helplessly as the other dark dragon was electrocuted.

Cynder managed to take another dark being down by her breath of the shadow element. The dark smoke smothered the nearest enemy. It weakened him to near exhaustion as she finished him off with claws across his throat. She hated to do it, but it had to be done. As soon as he was dead, the other dark being recovered from the twister she made from earlier and attacked. She fired poison onto the ground in front of the dark being. He tried to avoid but couldn't stop in time before he stepped into the puddle of green goo. Cynder could hear the poison eat through his paws as the dark being ran through it as fast as he could, despite the pain he was in. The black dragoness dodged the charge, but was somehow nicked on her hind leg by his horn.

"Cynder!" Spyro exclaimed as he saw the gash across her upper right leg.

The purple dragon was nearly caught off guard as the other dark being jumped at him. He barely evaded the attack.

"I'm fine!" Cynder simply replied.

She started down the dark being who hurt her and charged him before he could attack her again. The dark being saw the attack and made a desperate move. He charged as well.

This wasn't going to work. His horns were larger than Cynder's and she would get knocked out easily if she tried to go head to head against him. So she changed tactics. The black dragoness jumped up and tackled the dark dragon from above. It definitely caught him off guard long enough for her plan to actually work. She collided against him and they went tumbling, but it ended not how she had hoped.

"Cynder!" Spyro cried out, still dealing with his problem.

Cynder was underneath the dark dragon. The evil being roared in her face as he raised his paw and was about to lay a finishing blow. Cynder tried to kick him off, but she didn't have the leg room.

Just when she was about to give up, the dark being was hit by something, knocking him off of her. She looked up, and saw the last dragon she ever expected to see.

"Jaggle?"

The red dragon pounced over Cynder, using his flames in the process before the dark dragon could recover. When he was close enough, he retrieved a small bottle from behind his wing and tackled the enemy back to the ground. He made sure he was dominant by staying on the top. Jaggle quickly opened the bottle and poured a sparkling liquid onto the dark being. The liquid sizzled upon contact as Jaggle jumped back to safety.

He then turned behind him to see Spyro still sparring with the last dark being. With the position he was in, Spyro could have easily killed him off already. But he wanted Jaggle to save him. So he did just that.

Spyro managed to grapple the dark being long enough for Jaggle to pour some pure essence onto him. The dark being swung his claws wildly and caught Spyro across his chest area. He clenched his teeth but stood strong.

Finally, Jaggle retreated back and Spyro followed suit. The purple dragon finally examined his new wound. He found a large diagonal slice across his chest. It hurt and bled and it made Cynder worried about him.

The dark being growled as the liquid disappeared, and he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

"Are you alright?" Cynder quickly asked, analyzing his wound.

"I'll be fine," Spyro managed. "What about you?"

"My wound isn't as bad as yours. Of course I'll be fine."

Spyro showed an assuring smile. "I hope Felenia made it out of here with Star."

Jaggle then stepped in, "I saw them escape safely. They are safe for the time being."

Cynder nodded. "Thanks for the help Jaggle."

"Do you need any help carrying the survivors to the hospital?" Spyro asked.

Jaggle nodded. "If you are able."

_Meanwhile_

The cat was wide awake. She carefully examined her surroundings to find herself alone in the living room of Kali's home. Isis hated dreams like that. They scared her. Looking into the eyes of that toddler was one of the most frightening things she had ever done.

Isis forced herself up to her feet and made her way for the door. She didn't know what to do. Now that she wasn't hunting for dark beings anymore, she stayed couped up indoors for a whole week. She didn't want to go outside. What if there were dark beings out there? What if she killed them too?

"Isis."

The cat knew who it was just by the sweet voice. "Kali," she simply replied.

The dragoness walked out of her bedroom corridor. "Is there something bothering you?" Kali asked as she slowly approached the cat in front of the fireplace.

It took a moment for Isis to answer, but her voice was barely audible. "No . . . I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Kali looked the cat over. "You know you can talk to me about anything. You know that right?"

Isis was quiet for a little while. She thought about what to say, then finally replied a few seconds later. "That toddler keeps haunting my dreams. Over the past few days, I've had the same nightmare about him. He would always force me to look into his eyes and make me watch life leave him, over and over." The cat looked down toward the carpeted floor. "It's driving me mad."

Kali understood what she meant, but she was never in such a position herself. Sure, she tried to murder someone, but Isis's problem was different here. She killed a toddler. Something like that could haunt anyone.

"It's going to be alright Isis. I know it's tough, but you just have to stand up to your fears. It's the only way you're going to be able to get over it." Kali went quiet for a moment then continued. "Perhaps you should think about others. Maybe that will help."

"What do you mean?"

Kali shrugged, "Well, if you pay more attention to others then maybe you won't think about this as much. I think it will help."

With that, the blue dragoness retreated back into her bedroom to leave the cat some time to think. Isis sat in her spot, pondering on what to do, then she came up with an idea.

"If I can't change what I did," Isis began. "Then maybe I can make up for it."

The cat turned toward the door outside, then used her telekinesis to open it. She slowly walked toward the exit as a cool breeze blew through the doorway. Somehow, it made Isis feel a little better about herself, but she continued on out into the streets.

_Later_

_Hospital_

After being bandaged up, Spyro waited just outside of Cynder's room. He was slightly worried about her, but knew that she was fine. It still bothered him though. The dark beings could have jumped Felenia if they wouldn't have gotten there when they did. Still, the dark dragons couldn't fly so that was a big disadvantage for them. All they had to do was avoid tight quarters and they could easily avoid their attacks. But of course, the dark beings always seemed to attack in the alleyways and never in the main street. It was good because it would often avoid getting innocent citizens involved, but bad as well because it was just cramped fighting grounds.

Spyro would often get asked by a doctor or nurse of why he was standing in the hall. After he explained himself, they left him alone. He knew they wouldn't mind him as long as he didn't get in their way.

A few minutes later, the room door opened. Spyro turned to see a blue scaled nurse exiting the room, followed by Cynder. Her back leg had a simple white bandage wrapped around it.

"Take it easy now," the nurse kindly instructed. "I know it's not a bad wound but you don't want it to open up."

Cynder smiled. "Thank you nurse."

"And don't worry about the bill," the nurse continued. "Consider it complementary for doing so much for our city."

"you're too kind," Cynder happily replied.

The nurse showed a smile and made her way down the hall. Cynder looked at Spyro and noticed he had a large white bandage wrapped around his whole chest area.

"Goodness," Cynder responded, seeing the medical work. "Does it hurt?"

Spyro shrugged, "Not really. Depends on if I stretch or not." 

The two of them decided it was best if they made their way outdoors to give the doctors their much needed space. The hospital wasn't that crowded at the moment, but still, anything could happen. Recent events have already proven that.

Just as Spyro and Cynder passed the front counter, Spyro heard, "Have a nice day now. Stay safe."

The purple dragon turned to see a pure white scaled dragoness smiling at them. "You too," Spyro simply replied.

When Spyro and Cynder was out on the street, Spyro looked around himself. There were a few dragons, both large and small, walking down it as far as he could see. Then he looked up into the sky. It was pretty cloudless, but still cold out. But Spyro could see something shining in the sky. A small spot, almost like a star. He remembered seeing this before, but it was at night.

"You see that star up in the sky?" Spyro asked Cynder in a quiet tone.

Cynder looked up and spotted it a few seconds later. "Yes. Although I don't think it's a star."

"It's not," Spyro regrettably assured. "It's the dark planet."

Cynder looked at it for a few moments, then turned her attention to Spyro. "Let's go check on Felenia. She's probably in the Elder Hall."

Spyro nodded. "Alright then."

_Later_

_Riverside Beauty_

It was an easy job working the counter in the inn. Even though Myrianda had told her countless times that she could have had one of those exceptions like she did, it just didn't make Yin feel right. She wanted to earn her room and not be a freeloader. Myrianda still helped around in the inn for extra gems, but Yin knew that was money to quench her alcoholic thirst.

Yin had a sip of alcohol here and there, but it was only to get that pink dragoness off her back.

At the moment, Yin was writing something down on an important sheet of paper. When she finished, she retrieved an envelope from the desk drawer, folded the paper up, and slid it inside. She sealed the envelope and wrote a hospital address on it to be mailed later. Business was a bit more slow than usual, but Yin knew why. She never told Drad the reason, she didn't want him to worry. That dragon was a bit too old to worry about these kind of things anyways. Yin didn't know his actual age, but from the way he talks about his past experiences and how much he's been through, was actually just an educated guess that he must be pretty old. But an accurate one.

"Isn't it quitting time Yin?"

Yin smiled, "It's fine Drad." She turned to see him walking down the stairs beside the desk. "I don't mind the extra work."

The larger, brown scaled dragon looked unconvinced. "You have a life too. I can't keep you couped up behind a desk."

Yin tilted her head a little in thought. "Well, I do want to go get something to eat."

"Then go," Drad urged. "I doubt there will be any customers. And if it makes you feel any better, I'll keep my eye out for them."

Then the two of them heard someone else coming down the stairs. They both looked to see Myrianda, a bit lively at the moment.

"Finished cleaning the room Dradswendirt," Myrianda saluted.

Yin rolled her eyes while Drad chuckled to himself. "There's no need for that. And please calls me Drad. I'm sure you two will want your pay?"

Myrianda nodded. "Yes please."

Drad grinned. "Alright, just wait a moment."

Drad walked behind the counter and into his office, where he disappeared from sight. Myrianda looked Yin over and saw a strange look on her face. "So where you want to go tonight?"

Yin shook her head. "No bars."

Myrianda grew surprised at her friend. She quickly asked, "Why not? They are always fun."

This was the last straw. Yin felt something break inside of her, and knew that she was about to lash out at her. She managed to contain herself for the time being though and simply showed a fake smile. "Because I think a change of scenery is necessary at the moment."

"Change of scenery?" Myrianda repeated. She looked upwards in thought, then continued a moment later. "What do you mean?"

"The truth?" Yin went.

The pink dragoness nodded. "Yes, please."

Yin showed a true smile this time. "I don't mean to sound unpleasant, but I've quite had enough of bars. Every time you invite me, somehow, I'm always the one dragging you back here. Your alcoholic intoxications always leave me doing all of the work." Myrianda looked displeased by what she heard as Yin continued her rant. "Alcohol doesn't even taste that good. How can you drink it, knowing that it's going to burn your throat, and you're going to wake up in the morning with hardly any recollection whatsoever of the night before?"

Myrianda looked a bit speechless at this point. Her mouth was open as if she was going to say something, but nothing ever came out.

"What's wrong?" Yin evilly smirked. "Does the truth surprise you?"

"Leave it to you to take something like being drunk and make it sound bad."

Yin smiled, then noticed Drad entering the room. He carried two small brown bags in his teeth and set them on the counter.

"Here you are," Drad said in satisfaction. "I believe this is the amount for this week."

Yin peered inside her bag. She saw many different colored gems inside. She even spotted a few orange gems. These were worth one-hundred regular gems.

"Drad, are you sure about this? I think this is a little above our regular payment."

Drad showed a grin. "Don't worry about it. What's an old geezer like me going to do with extra gems?"

"Eat," Yin explained. "You need gems for yourself you know."

Myrianda just looked at the two of them. She peered inside her bag to see it was filled with the same amount as Yin's.

"I have plenty saved up over the years," Drad replied, looking back toward his office. He didn't seem that worried about paying the two of them more than what he usually did. "Don't worry about it. You two just go out and have fun."

Yin and Myrianda looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Even Myrianda realized how generous Drad was being right now. It was almost unusual.

Drad continued. "You two have your whole lives ahead of you. Who knows how much longer I have. I want you two to live while you have the chance."

"Thank you," Yin bowed her head. "If there is anything we can do to repay you, all you need to do is ask, right Myrianda?"

Myrianda stayed quiet.

Yin gritted her teeth. She forcefully bumped Myrianda with her back leg to get her attention. "I said, right Myrianda?"

"Yeah sure," Myrianda finally replied, rubbing her leg where she was hit.

Drad showed a smile. "As long as I can tell you two are happy, then that is all I want."

This had to be the nicest dragon Yin had ever encountered before. Drad had also been letting her off work early the past few days as well. It was almost like Drad was hiding something.

Yin was snapped out of her thoughts by Myrianda's voice. "Well you've made me happy. So what do you say Yin? Want to go out tonight?"

"You know I'm not into females right?" Yin joked.

"Too bad," Myrianda grinned. "You don't know what you're missing."

"Erm," Drad began, feeling a bit uneasy at the situation. "Well . . . I have to go do something in my office. Enjoy your night."

With that, Drad retreated back into his office. Yin and Myrianda looked at each other for a moment, then Myrianda shrugged. "What's with him?"

Yin could have facepalmed herself. "Let's just go."

Before actually leaving, Yin threw a bag over her back. The bag reminded Yin of a saddlebag back home. It was used for carrying various items however. She gave one to Myrianda as well, and they both put their earnings into them and left the inn.

"What about Blaze?" Yin began.

"What about him?"

"Maybe he would want to tag along?" the white dragoness suggested.

Myrianda shook her head. "He's not here. I checked his room earlier while I was cleaning."

"Oh."

Dusk had begun. The sky was fairly clear except for a few small clouds here and there, and the wind blew with a somewhat warm breeze. It was still a bit cold out though.

"So where are we going?" Myrianda asked.

"Market, of course," Yin replied. "I need my groceries."

"Right."

A few moments passed then Yin asked, "Hey Myrianda."

"Yes?"

"You were kidding about earlier, right?"

Myrianda smiled, seeing an opportunity to entertain herself. "Who knows? Maybe."

_Meanwhile_

_Elder Hall_

Everything turned out okay. Felenia escaped with Star and he was safe and sound. Although Shivertail was a bit worried about the situation. He didn't think the dark being's were that bad in the city. They tried to attack Felenia in broad daylight. Which only meant they were getting more assertive. When Spyro and Cynder informed him that they managed to save two out of six of them, Shivertail felt a little more better at the situation. He knew they did all they could for them.

At the moment, Cynder was keeping her promise she made Star. She stayed with him the rest of the day, playing with him and talking with him. Spyro joined in as often as he could, but he would get sidetracked by Ignitus's presence. Spyro often asked him how the city was getting along, but Ignitus kept quiet about it. If he was keeping the truth away from Spyro, then things must have been worse than he thought.

"Spyro!" Star called out.

Spyro turned around and looked at Star with a smile. He was sitting across the room with Cynder sitting down on the floor next to him. She wore a smile on her face as well.

"What is it?" Spyro politely asked.

Star grinned. "Catch!"

Then, from out of nowhere, Star threw a small ball at Spyro. With his quick thinking, Spyro managed to catch it the best he could. The ball was just small, red, and lightweight. Obviously made for tossing around.

Seeing where this was going, Spyro tossed it back toward Star. He caught it with joy in his face.

"We're going to begin his training soon," Ignitus whispered towards the purple dragon.

"How much longer do we have?" Spyro asked, referring toward the dark planet he saw in the sky.

Ignitus sighed. "I fear it is rapidly growing. At the most, a month."

"A month?" Spyro nearly exclaimed. He caught the ball Star threw and tossed it back and lowered his voice. "But we haven't even caught Phantom yet. Can we really train Star in all the elements before a month?"

"I believe we can," Ignitus informed. "As Star grows at a fast pace, so does his knowledge of the elements. We must train him before it's time."

"Yeah but," Spyro began. He caught the ball Star tossed at him and hooped it back to him. "I don't feel right making Star doing this as young as he is."

"I know what you mean," Ignitus responded, a hint of guilt in his voice. "But I fear we have no other choice." Then Ignitus remembered something. "Wait a moment, isn't Volteer still in the city?"

"Yes," Spyro answered. "But I haven't seen him since the festival. Why?"

"He can be a good accomplice in assisting us in the matter of Star's training."

Spyro smiled, "You almost sounded like Volteer just then."

Ignitus chuckled. "Not even close I'm afraid."

Spyro caught the ball, and gently tossed it back to Star. "I'm afraid we can't stay here much longer. We're planning on searching for Phantom tonight."

"I know," Ignitus replied. "I wish I could provide more assistance in the matter."

"We're going to try Cosmo's plan tonight."

Ignitus raised an eye. "Bait?"

Spyro nodded.

_Meanwhile_

The whole time she sat in wait, she only thought about the future. Things were beginning to happen in the city and the citizens were realizing it. Isis could tell just by eavesdropping on random conversations as she waited on someones front door step. But the longer she waited, the more this seemed like a meaningless idea.

Finally, she spotted the dragoness she was looking for. A pure white dragoness made her way down the city street, making Isis sit up straight. Her scales were white, her two short straight horns were white, and underbelly was a darker white, and she had a small line of white fur down her spine. If she was any more white, Isis could have mistaken her for an angel.

The white dragoness didn't notice her visitor at first, but as soon as she stepped on the first step, she looked down and saw Isis.

"Why hello there. Apologies, I didn't see you at first."

"That's okay," Isis replied, but in a low voice.

The cat was expecting shock, but she never saw the dragoness' expression change.

"Are you hungry? I recall having some leftovers from our last meeting."

Isis was a bit confused. "Aren't you surprised?"

The white dragoness showed a smile. "That you can talk?"

Isis nodded.

"How about we continue our conversation indoors?"

Isis could tell she was cold. She should have thought about that sooner. "Of course."

The white dragoness quickly opened the door, letting them both in. She quickly closed it to keep whatever warm air was left inside. She eyed her fireplace first, then made her way over to it. Seeing it still had some good wood left in it, she opened her mouth and let out a small stream of fire, just enough for the wood to ignite.

Isis grew surprised herself. "You don't look like you would be a fire type dragon."

The white dragoness smiled. "Well, I wasn't born with it." She sat down on her short couch and relaxed. "I was only able to use wind."

"I thought the purple dragon was the only one who could learn more than one element?" Isis asked, as she took her place in front of the fire.

"Not exactly," she replied. "The purple dragon can learn four elements, but I may only practice two. My kind can learn two easily."

Isis raised an eye, intrigued by what she said. "What do you mean, your kind?"

The white dragoness looked that cat over with the same grin she shown before. "You see my white fur?" She pointed at her spine with her paw. "It's pretty and all, but it's also a signification."

"What does it signify?"

The white dragoness looked at the fire for a few seconds, then answered. "You probably have already figured out that I'm not from around here."

Isis nodded. "Well yeah, you talk a little different from the rest of them."

The white dragoness tittered at her remark. "Well that's true. My apologies. It's a habit I'm trying to break."

"It's fine," Isis assured. "A little amusing actually."

"Are you sure?"

Isis smiled. "Indubitably."

A smile spread across the dragoness' face.


	57. True Forms

Chapter 57

True Forms

Yin wasn't much for fighting, but this was getting ridiculous. She had done nothing to deserve this. Why did the dark beings have to attack now?

She jumped to the side, avoiding a reckless charge as she was forced to back up into an alley. She took a deep breathe, slightly irritated at her dreadful situation. There were four of them, all wanting to possess her with convexity, just like Clover.

"This isn't good. Why did Myrianda have to run off like she did?"

_Ten Minutes Earlier_

"So what kind of alcohol do you like Yin?" Myrianda asked as she browsed the shopkeepers wares. He held a fine selection of wine mostly, but he did have a few bottles of other items as well.

"The non-alcoholic kind," Yin sighed, beginning to grow tired of that question. She patiently waited for Myrianda to choose what she wanted, but her patience was wearing out.

"That's funny," Myrianda cheerfully replied. "I got a good joke for you too. Two peanuts are walking down the street. One of them was a salted. Get it?"

Yin rolled her eyes. She found it slightly amusing, but still held her firm tone. "Cute. Very clever. Now please hurry up. I still need to get some food for tonight."

"Yeah yeah, in a minute."

"It's been thirty minutes Myrianda!" Yin snapped. "Even the shopkeeper is getting tired of you standing there!"

The brown scaled shopkeeper wasn't even paying attention to her. He was laid back in a stool, reading a book.

"Don't yell at me," Myrianda quickly stated in a loud tone.

"I'm not yelling!" Yin raised her voice more. "This is yelling!"

"I don't like being yelled at!"

"Too bad! As long as you sit here, I'll continue yelling!"

"Hey!", the shopkeeper shouted, annoyed by the two of them yelling in front of his stand. "Look here, either buy something, or get a move on. Until then, go argue somewhere else. Preferably in an empty block, which is easy to come by these days."

Myrianda looked him over a moment, then answered, "Fine, give me two bottles of strawberry wine. I'm going to do what I do best. Get drunk and forget what happened."

The shopkeeper sighed in glory. He quickly retrieved the two bottles she had asked for before she changed her mind, then set them on the stand separating him and his customer. "Twenty three gems."

Then Myrianda smiled and looked into the shopkeeper's eyes. She placed a paw on the shopkeeper's paw and gently asked, "How about one gem. Just for me?"

Yin nearly swallowed her tongue. "That's just rude Myrianda. You are misusing your power."

The shopkeeper didn't even hear her. He only smiled and replied in a lovely voice, "That's okay miss. You can take them for free, I don't mind really."

Myrianda kept her smile. "Thanks."

She quickly grabbed the bottles and left the stand. Yin just shook her head in disapproval.

_Present Time_

"I hate fighting, but if I don't get rid of these dark being's then they may capture someone else." Yin said to herself, backing up into the alleyway. "Fine, if it's a fight you want, it's a defeat you'll get."

Yin finally got the nerve to attack. She quickly blew ice onto dark being closest to her. His movements were slowed as he tried to slash at her, but he was slow enough for Yin to dodge with ease. Another dark being ran around the slowed one and charged for her. She changed her element and used wind to blow him back into the other dark beings, knocking them down to the ground. Yin slowly began to back up to get some distance between her and her opponents.

"I'm sorry," Yin quietly apologized.

She launched an ice spike toward the dark being who she iced earlier. It hit him in forehead, killing him instantly. The remaining dark beings finally stood to their feet and charged toward her simultaneously. She quickly blew ice onto the ground, making the ground slick and slippery. As soon as the dark dragons made contact, they slipped and fell back down to the ground. Yin took this opportunity and shot another ice spike into the nearest dark being's head. Another one killed off.

Two more left. Yin turned to see them back on their feet and off the ice trap she laid out. The nearest one swiped at her, making her evade to the side. She found herself at the side of a building and was forced to back up, due to the tight quarters she was in. Before the dark beings could jump her, she used her wind once more and blew them back to give her the space she needed. The fierce winds cut through the air. Both dark dragon's clawed the stone below, but couldn't manage to hold them in place as they were blown away a few feet feet back.

Seeing her chance, Yin started to combine her two last elements. Water and fire. It only took a moment to combine and use as the dark beings quickly stood to their feet and relentlessly charged once again. Before they could reach her, she let the attack loose. Boiling water escaped Yin's mouth as she covered the dark beings in it. They didn't scream, which wasn't surprising, but it was definitely causing damage. Yin could see steam in the air as the two dark dragons stumbled, trying to find some way to get the burning water off themselves.

Yin thought that was it, she was wrong. Despite the pain they were in, the dark beings charged her and attacked. The nearest one jumped her and tackled her to the ground. She should have gotten out of the way, but it was so sudden.

The dark being growled over Yin's face as the hot water dripped onto her shoulder from off the dragon's back. It burned her scales and she cried in pain. She hit the dragon with her knee and blew fire in his face, but the dark being still stayed put as if her attacks didn't do anything. The dark dragon growled once again and raised his claw.

Yin closed her eyes, not wanting to see her death come. Then she heard an unexpected noise. It was the sound of glass breaking, then something cool dripped on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes to see shards of what used to be a bottle around her, and the dark being fell on top of her.

"What the-" Yin began. Before she could begin to ponder on what was going on, another bottle flew out of nowhere and collided against the last remaining dark being's head. It knocked him out cold as the bottle broke across his face. He fell to the ground as well.

Yin shoved the dark being on top of her out of the way as she staggered to her feet and avoided the broken glass. She looked up on top of the rooftop and saw a friendly face.

"Myrianda?"

The pink dragoness smiled. She jumped off the rooftop and landed in front of Yin. "Couldn't let you have all the fun."

Yin showed a smile of gratitude. "Thank you, but wasn't that your wine?"

"Shows you what I think of strawberry wine."

"Thank goodness for that."

Then the two of them heard a hiss. They both turned to see more dark beings staring them down at the end of the alleyway. Twelve of them, all wanting the sweet taste of accomplishment. Yin flinched at their numbers. Where did all of them come from?

Myrianda grinned at them, not even showing a bit of fear. "Alright, more action. I've been dieing for it. You ready Yin? Let's take them out in one shot!"

Yin studied Myrianda, then realized what she meant. "You mean our combination attack?"

"Of course!"

Myrianda began to charge up her two elements of choice. Electricity and gamma. Yin followed suit with ice and wind.

The dark beings charged as they noticed their opponents making a move. Yin took notice, as did Myrianda. When they were closing in, Myrianda nodded, eager to fire.

Yin spread her wings and launched her icy attack. An icy wind that could freeze anyone caught in its path. Then Myrianda let her attack go. A purple electric gamma beam fired out of her mouth and intertwined with Yin's blizzard. The purple beam soaked in Yin's attack, making the beam even stronger. The beam turned blue and icy as it collided against the dark beings, killing them instantly. The beam traveled through them as if they weren't even there, almost disintegrating them into nothing. They didn't even have enough time to scream.

When there was nothing left, Myrianda eased off her attack and looked over her work. All that was left of the dark beings were ashes. Even the dark beings that she had knocked out earlier were gone. There were a few frozen bits and pieces here and there, and the building in front of them suffered some damage at the base where the beam had collided against it.

A cool breeze blew as Myrianda smiled. "Well that takes care of that."

"Yes but," Yin began. She tried to find the right words then continued, "Isn't combining already combined elements a bit over-kill?"

"Oh come on," Myrianda smirked. "There's no such thing as over-kill."

"It was an electric gamma beam, combined with wind and ice! How is that not over-kill?"

"Well," Myrianda began in a sort of a slur. "Look, there's still remains on the grounds. They weren't completely disintegrated."

Yin rolled her eyes and sighed. "Whatever, let's go before someone sees the damage you done to that building."

"But it's fun."

"I don't care. Now I can't go shopping like I wanted."

Yin quickly turned to leave the alley, not wanting to be around when someone came by and saw the damage they done.

"Why can't you go shopping?" Myrianda asked, jumping in front of her and blocking her path.

Yin casually walked around her. She left the alleyway, looked both ways for any passerby's, then continued down the street. "We have to go to the Elder Hall remember? We're going to go hunt for Phantom again."

_Meanwhile_

Isis stared at the fireplace for a moment in thought. She watched it perform a dance for her as it crackled and provided warmth for both her, and the white dragoness she was with. The cat looked up at that character. She said that she wasn't from around here, and that her kind could use two different elements. It peeked the cat's curiosity about her.

Another thing that made her interested is why this dragoness wasn't surprised that she could talk. She thought about it for a short moment and came up with the best solution she could muster. That 'thank you' note she left behind during her last visit must have tipped it off.

The white dragoness continued her story as she relaxed on her couch. "To tell a more accurate story, I'm from a more . . . let's say luxuriant city. It was settled near the ocean's coast, a long way from here." She then smiled to herself. "Well listen to me ramble about myself. How impolite of me."

Isis showed a comfortable grin. "It's alright. I enjoy a good story every now and then."

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes, not that I don't mind your company and all, but I was wondering why you are here."

Isis looked back at the fire for a moment, then answered in a lower tone. "It's sort of a long story. I won't take up too much of your time so I'll make it short." Isis sighed then looked back at the dragoness. She seemed a bit troubled at how she was acting. "I may have made a mistake a few days ago."

"We all make mistakes sweety. None of us are perfect."

Isis shook her head. "This was one mistake that has haunted my dreams every day since then."

The white dragoness troubled look grew more vague. Even her tone was unclear of what she was feeling. "I'm sure you didn't mean it."

Isis perked up a little. She didn't expect that kind of response from her. She raised her tail a little out of curiosity and gently asked, "What makes you say that?"

The dragoness smiled. "Well just look at yourself. You're worried about this mistake you made. So worried that it's been bothering you to where it's invading your dreams and making you more than uncomfortable. An evil dragon wouldn't do that. He would simply smile at what he did and continue on. But you keep looking back on this incident of yours. Something any normal dragon would do."

Isis perked her ears up. "What are you implying?"

"I'm saying that what you done, you didn't mean to. These things happen, and they are bound to happen again. It's better to just forgive and forget. You can't change what you've done." The dragoness slowly stood to her feet, still wearing that friendly smile on her face. "You're a good cat. I couldn't imagine you hurting someone on purpose. Your presence here proves that."

Was she telling the truth? Isis couldn't see why this dragoness would lie to her. Everything she said, did make sense to her. The cat felt different now. Like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her mind raced back to that moment. Where she killed that toddler. She clenched her teeth as she felt a wave of sadness wash over her. No evil dragon would act like this. This dragoness was right. Isis wasn't evil, she just made a mistake.

"Thank you," Isis finally said. "You've helped me realize how living in the past isn't good for the future. I've made a mistake and I regret it, but nothing can change it now."

"Mistakes are a part of who we are," the dragoness replied. "It's how we grow and nurture. Our mistakes may leave regret behind, but they also leave a lifelong lesson. Don't worry if you slip up from time to time. You'll learn as you go."

Isis stood to all four legs. She looked up at the dragoness and shown the first true smile she made in a long time. "I won't forget what you said. Ever. Thank you for helping me lift this burden off my shoulders. For the first time in a week, I feel alive with a renewed vigor inside of me. It's funny how it took a stranger to help me when I wouldn't even listen to my friends."

"Sometimes, a stranger's words mean more than a close friend's. I was glad to have helped out."

Isis knew what she meant. Then her head suddenly pounded in pain. Isis grunted as she put a paw on her head, only to have it pound again.

"Oh my," the dragoness began. "Are you alright?"

Isis tried to answer, but her head pounded once more. Something was happening to her. Then the white dragoness gasped. Isis began to become enveloped in a white light.

"What's going on?" the dragoness exclaimed. She didn't know whether to run and get help, or stay with her new found friend.

The white light expanded, then it finally dissipated at a slow but steady rate. The fire in the fireplace had somehow gone out and the dragoness' eyes finally adjusted to the light level of the room. Then what she saw, made her gasp.

_Later_

_Elder Hall _

_Basement_

Everyone was gathered around in a group, deciding on the best course of action. Phantom had yet to be seen in the city, but that didn't mean he wasn't skulking about. His ability to hide in shadows could make him more elusive and stealthy than ever.

To be on the safe side, Ignitus made sure the room was well lit. No shadows in the basement were cast with all the lanterns and candles around them. It was more than safe to speak about their plan.

"Is everyone here?" Shivertail began. The black dragon looked around and noticed most of them were, but he thought one was missing.

Cosmo shrugged. "Eh, mostly. I don't think Isis will arrive here any time soon."

Shivertail frowned, "That's too bad. We need all the help we can get in this search. What about Kali?"

"She stayed at home, saying that she didn't want to get in the way."

Cynder had grown worried about Isis. She hadn't heard from her in well over a week and knew of what that cat did that night. It was a sad story and Cynder wished she could help out in the matter.

Blaze looked over at Yin to see her showing a friendly smile toward him. Myrianda playfully bumped into Yin and she could tell what that pink dragon was thinking of. She slowly shook her head and returned her attention to Shivertail.

"Well I suppose we should get started then."

Then Ignitus took over. "You all know that Phantom must be captured so we can cure him. Star must be trained in all the elements and I'm afraid that Clover is the only one with knowledge about the void. He may also have knowledge of convexity as well. Two dangerous elements which should be used with caution." He turned his attention to Spyro. "Did you bring the pure essence with you?"

Spyro nodded and retrieved it from behind his wing. "Of course."

Ignitus looked back at the whole group in general and continued. "Since we have already exhausted all other plans, we will go with yours Cosmo."

Cosmo nervously swallowed. "Well . . . yeah."

"Being live bait is risky you know," Sparx stated in an obvious tone. "Glad it's you and not me."

"Sparx," Spyro began in a tired pitch. "Why are you here anyways?"

"What, I can't help out?"

Cynder smiled, unable to resist butting in. "So how are you gonna help?"

"That's easy. I'm gonna cheer for you."

"Anyways," Ignitus began, getting everyone's attention. "As I was stating earlier, Cosmo's plan. Cosmo will walk the streets of the city by himself, while the rest of you keep an eye on him from a distance. Phantom still has his targets on all of you, so if he see's Cosmo, hopefully he will show himself."

Sparx crossed his arms and muttered, "That's if he doesn't get suspicious of why he's walking the streets alone in the first place."

Ignitus continued the briefing. "When he does show himself, I want all of you to be quick and quiet. Ambush Phantom and do whatever means necessary to pour the pure essence onto him. Remember, he has been corrupted with the void, so the essence will take a little longer to work on him. You must hold him down during this time. If not, then the process will fail."

Yin smiled. "We've captured him once already, we can do it again. Am I right?"

Everyone silently agreed.

_A little later_

_Kali's Home_

The blue dragoness was kicked back and relaxing on her couch, keeping warm in front of her fire in the fireplace with a book in her hold. She hadn't actually been home all by herself in a good while. Kali thought that it would be more peaceful, but she couldn't shake the lonely feeling out of her system.

Then there was a knock on the door. Kali silently marked her place in her book and set it to the side on the couch. She wondered who that could be as she stood to her feet and walked over to the door. She slowly turned the doorknob, then creaked the door open. What she saw made her gasp.

"What the-" Kali began, dumbfounded for words.

A black fur dragon stood in front of her with a wide smile on her. "Hey Kali."

"I-Isis?"

The fur dragon nodded. "Yes Kali. It's me. May I come in?"

Kali immediately stepped to the side. "What happened to you? How did you-"

"Change back?" Isis finished as Kali shut the door behind her. The blue dragoness could tell she was happy by the tone in her voice.

"Yes," Kali finally answered. Her heart rate began to slow down from the recent shock she had taken.

Isis made herself at home as she leisurely walked to the couch. She noticed a book, picked it up in her paws, and sat down with it. "I recently met someone who was nice enough to show me the way back to my former self."

"Who was it?" Kali kindly asked, taking her place beside Isis.

Isis smiled. "She had a fancy name. But what was really interesting was how she acted and talked."

"What do you mean?"

"She was a different kind of dragon. She had fur growing out of her spine." Isis thought for a moment then continued. "She mentioned that it was a symbol of her race of dragons. And her race could learn two different elements."

"Wait a minute," Kali began, "Fur growing out of her spine?"

Isis simply nodded, examining the book she was holding. It was pretty thick but no pictures.

"Don't we know someone else like that?"

A few seconds passed as they both thought. Then Isis finally answered, "Now that you mention it yes. I think we do."

Kali thought about it for a moment. She knew the dragon. But she couldn't place a name.

Then Isis changed subjects. "So where's Cosmo at? I want him to know about me as well."

The blue dragoness looked over with a vague look. "He went with the others to hunt for Phantom."

"What?" Isis uttered. "Where did they go?"

Kali shrugged then quickly answered, "I don't know. They're somewhere in the city."

_Meanwhile_

_Hospital_

Things were pretty quiet in the halls of the hospital. Micha still sat in Torch's room, falling asleep in her chair. She didn't even think it was possible. The chair wasn't even cushioned and it was pretty small for her. She didn't even know how a larger dragon like Shivertail could sit down. The hallways and doors were big enough, but the chairs wouldn't cut it.

Micha didn't even notice a doctor as she peered through the window at her. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the pink dragon.

"Delilia," Static quietly stated. "Why are you standing around here for? Wasn't you supposed to go home earlier?"

"Yeah," the blue scaled doctor silently replied. "I have to tell Micha that she needs to leave though."

"So why haven't you done it yet?"

Delilia shrugged. "I was giving her more time. Every minute counts."

The yellow scaled dragon peered through the window. All he saw was Micha falling asleep and trying to fight it off. "Looks like she needs to get some sleep."

"And yet, she still remains here by Torch's side."

Static looked back at Delilia and shrugged, still in a low voice. "She loves him. What do you expect?"

"She says that Torch keeps twitching."

"That's her hope Delilia. It's normal for a dragon to twitch every now and then in a coma."

"But Torch has been doing a lot of twitching," Delilia informed. "I've also spotted REM."

"Rapid-eye movement?"

Delilia nodded.

"So he's having a dream. I don't see what the big deal is."

"Don't you see Static?" Delilia began in an excited voice. "Out of all the coma's I've seen, I have never seen one where the patient had REM."

Static looked back through the window, clearly interested in what she had to say. "So what are you saying?"

Delilia smiled. "I don't think Torch is in a coma."

"So he could actually wake up anytime now?" Static asked.

Delilia nodded. "Yes, I believe so. But I don't see how it's possible."

The yellow scaled reptile watched Micha for a moment. She was unquestionably different from all the others. Just by seeing her here at this time of night was proof.

"Off-topic question," Static began. "Have you ever seen another dragon like Micha?"

"How so?"

"I mean, have you ever seen another dragon who had fur on his back?"

Delilia looked back through the window along with Static. She examined Micha and immediately saw what he was talking about. Sky blue fur decorated Micha's spine as it continued all the way down to her tail.

"Not recently," Delilia finally answered.

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo felt so uncomfortable at the moment until it was the opposite of bearable. The temperature dropped some, the crisp air blew, and the yellow dragon was walking at a slow pace in the middle of an empty street. Not to mention the whole reason was to get an evil dragon to come out and attempt to capture him.

"_I hope my trust wasn't misplaced_," Cosmo thought in troubled suspense.

Spyro and Cynder decided that it would be better if they moved in groups instead of one complete gathering. They were ahead of Cosmo a few buildings in case Phantom attacked from the front. Spyro made sure Sparx stayed behind him so his glow wouldn't blow their cover. As long as he stayed low though they would be fine.

Yin, Myrianda, and Blaze were behind Cosmo, silently following him as he walked. They too were above, jumping from building to building when it was necessary.

A few minutes passed as Cosmo grew tired of walking and decided to sit down in the street for a moment. He looked up at the stars, seeing them twinkle at him as he did. Then he looked at the star that didn't twinkle. This was the dark planet, Cosmo was sure of it.

"Beautiful work is it not?"

Cosmo froze. His heart began to beat faster when he recognized that voice. He forced himself to turn to the source, and saw that the time had come. Standing off to the side of the street, was Phantom.

"You." Cosmo swallowed a lump in his throat and stood tall as he turned to face him.

Phantom sneered. "As the dark planet grows, your hopes die. My master patiently awaits for his creation to grow so it may consume this planet and transform it into a lovely land of darkness."

Cosmo saw slight movement on the rooftop in the corner of his eye. It looked like Spyro and Cynder were getting ready. So he continued to stall. "How can something that irrational be satisfying?"

"Revenge is always satisfying," Phantom harshly retorted. "Ismeral Nexis worked so hard in his studies, only to have it thrown back in his face by the counsel."

"But the counsel died thousands of years ago!" Cosmo exclaimed. He knew it was useless to attempt to persuade Phantom, but he had to do what he could to cause delay.

Phantom showed a devious grin. "But Nexis doesn't know that, and nor does he have to." Phantom chuckled to himself then continued. "And now, I must finish what I began. Without you, the six will never reunite." The dark dragon crouched down and readied himself. Cosmo did the same. "And when that happens . . ."

Then Phantom pounced with his claws out. Cosmo quickly rolled out of harms way as the dark dragon's claws swung downwards and hit the stone below. Cosmo quickly tripped Phantom to the ground, which gave him a chance to get back to his feet. As soon as he did, he back off.

The dark dragon turned and wickedly grinned. "You know what will happen if you kill me. Which puts you at a big disadvantage."

"If you feel so sure of yourself, then why not show it?" Cosmo bravely mocked. "_Come on Spyro. I can't keep this up forever._"

But on the rooftops, Yin was standing still. Almost like a cold stone statue.

"Yin," Myrianda whispered. "What are you doing? You can't just stand there we need your help."

"But my vision," Yin began.

Myrianda shook her head. "I'm sorry Yin, but there's nothing you can do for him. He's too far away from here and you'll never make it."

Yin looked down as a tear formed in the corner of her eye. "But Myrianda. I can't do this knowing that he's in trouble."

Blaze silently watched them from the side, unsure of what to do. He looked over on the other side of the street and saw Spyro motioning them to get ready in a frantic sort of way.

Cosmo, however, was having a difficult time dodging all of Phantom's attacks. If he continued to do so, Phantom would grow suspicious, if he hadn't already.

Then Phantom growled, growing tired of his attacks missing. Cosmo studied him for a moment, unable to tell what he was thinking.

"Die!" Phantom exclaimed.

The dark dragon shot electricity through the air and into Cosmo. It was so quick he didn't have time to dodge. Before all his strength was drained, Cosmo used an element and surrounded himself in an earth shield, grounding out the electricity. Seeing his electricity became useless, Phantom ceased his attack and roared at the yellow dragon.

Cosmo let the earth shield down and readied himself as he was able to read Phantom's expression this time. He was switching his elements. But he didn't know what.

The question answered itself when Phantom took a second to charge up a plasma beam, then fired. Cosmo leaped out the way and began running off to the side, evading the beam as it chased him. He was forced to fly as he saw a building wall in front of him, making Phantom look up as he continued his attack, still unable to hit Cosmo.

Then the attack finally stopped. Cosmo looked down, still in mid-flight above the buildings, then smiled as he saw that Spyro finally made a move on Phantom. He quickly flew down to them to see the purple dragon on the dark dragon's back as all the others immediately came to assist. But something was wrong. Phantom was smiling.

"Fool," Phantom grunted. "You think you're smart, but you have no idea what kind of situation you just put yourself in."

As Spyro retrieved the pure essence from behind his wing, he felt something in his chest. Spyro stopped his movements, then his heart began to ache with each beat it took. It made him release Phantom as he clenched his chest, dropping the pure essence to the ground in the process.

"Spyro!" Cynder yelled. She ran to his side in concern, snagging the pure essence as she did. "What did you do to him?" she demanded.

Phantom sneered at her. "I simply fused convexity into his body. I sensed a small amount of it in his body already so it was easy. Pretty soon, he'll be just like all the others."

Myrianda looked down on the street with worry. "Yin!" she exclaimed as quietly as she could. "This isn't a request, help me and Blaze!" she commanded. "If we let Phantom get away, then you can't save Drad!"

Then Yin finally snapped herself out of her trance. "I'm sorry," she apologized.

"You can save it for later, right now we have a big problem."

Yin nodded. "Alright, let's go."

Myrianda smiled. "That's the spirit I'm looking for."

The pink dragoness was the first one off the building. She jumped down and softly landed, but it still seemed as if Phantom knew she was there. Yin and Blaze soon followed as another cold breeze cut through the air.

"I see," Phantom began, noticing he was outnumbered. "We'll settle this later then."

Then Phantom smiled for a moment, then frowned once more.

Cosmo landed on the ground in front of him with a grin. "You can't disappear without shadows."

Before Phantom could reply, Cosmo recklessly charged, and tackled him to the ground. As soon as he did, Sparx safely flew to Spyro's side.

"I'm not going to sit under him anymore," Sparx simply said.

Then Cosmo got Phantom into a grapple and managed to hold him down. "Quick, someone grab the essence!" he exclaimed. But it was for naught as he was forcefully kicked off and onto the ground.

Before Phantom could try to use his shadow movement ability, Yin used her wind and blew him back down to the ground. She quickly jumped in his face and knocked him across the face with the back of her paw. It wasn't long before Myrianda grabbed the pure essence and Blaze was with Yin to help hold him down. The pink dragoness popped off the lid and quickly brought it over.

Before Myrianda could get to work, Phantom had somehow pushed Yin off of himself. "I grow tired of this!" he yelled.

Then the ground began to shake. Phantom's eyes were closed and Cosmo grew wide-eyed.

"No!" the yellow dragon yelled.

"To the void with all of you!" Phantom diabolically laughed.

A small pitch black rift began to form right in the middle of everyone. Cosmo could feel it's power as it began to suck all the air inside of it like a vacuum, and they were next.

Sparx held on for dear life onto Cynder's horn as she laid her body over Spyro, who still was still having chest pains. Yin and Blaze tried to subdue Phantom, but it was impossible without sacrificing themselves. Myrianda held onto the pure essence and she ran the other way, but the vacuum prevented anyone from going anywhere. Cosmo had his claws in the stone as he squinted to see everyone. He opened his mouth a let loose the hottest flame he could muster. The rift sucked his flames up, rendering them completely useless. This was it. No fairy was going save him, or his friends this time.

"I'm sorry everyone," Cosmo said as loud as he could. "I got us into this. It's my fault."

"No Cosmo," Cynder yelled out. "We were in this together. And in the end, I'm glad we were."

Even in this dire situation, Cosmo had a smile on his face. He looked up into the stars one last time and watched them twinkle at him. But then he saw something else. Something black just streaked across the sky, and it looked like it was heading straight for him.

Whatever it was, it was fast. It was almost a blur as it flew low and flew right by Cosmo and collided against Phantom with enough force to break a bone. As soon as it did, Cosmo could feel the rift beginning to die down.

"I told you I was going to kill you Phantom!"

"You can't kill me! Don't you know what will happen if I die!"

"Nothing will happen as long as I kill Phantom and not Clover!"

As soon as the black rift disappeared, Cosmo spotted the last thing he was expecting to see. A black fur dragon on top of Phantom.

The fur dragon raised her paw and struck Phantom across the face. Phantom attempted to kick the dragon off of him, but she wouldn't allow the leg room. The fur dragon struck him in the face once again, this time, knocking him out cold.

"Help!" Cynder pleaded.

Cosmo looked over at the black dragoness to see her looking down on the cold ground at Spyro. He quickly ran over to him and spotted the last thing he wanted to see. The purple dragon's scales were beginning to turn black.

"The pure essence!" the fur dragon exclaimed. "Where is it!"

"Here," Myrianda quickly said, offering the open bottle to her.

She speedily took it and raced over to Spyro's side. She hovered the bottle over Spyro's chest, then tipped it until a few drops fell. The pure essence fell and collided against the purple dragon's body.

"Please, let this work," Cynder begged.

Spyro laid still as his scales continued to grow black.

"Come on buddy," Sparx lowly said. "You can make it through this."

Everyone gathered around Spyro, hoping he would come through. They all wore worried faces as the convexity continued to spread throughout his body.

"No," Cynder began.

The pure essence wasn't working. The convexity continued and Spyro's scales were nearly pitch black.

"Use this!"

Then, from out of nowhere, a bottle was dropped from the rooftops. It landed right beside Cynder. She looked up and saw a familiar red dragon. "Jaggle?"

"That pure essence is fresh. It's more superior than the rest. Use it on Spyro. Save his life."

It didn't take long for Jaggle to disappear. Cynder silently thanked him, grabbed the fresh bottle, popped it open, and poured a few drops onto Spyro's chest. She hoped this would work. It had to work. There were no other options.

Everyone silently watched as it seemed time was at a standstill. The breeze had stopped and the city was quiet. Cynder couldn't even hear herself breathe for her heart was beating too loud and too fast.

"Come back to me," Cynder silently said, placing her arms around him. Tears began to form in her eyes. She sniffed as her tears rolled down her cheek and fell down onto Spyro's chest. "Please. You're all I have in this world. Don't leave me in it alone."

Cosmo closed his eyes, unable to look at the sight. He didn't want to see this moment relived. This reminded him too much of what happened during the tornado incident. He didn't want anyone to go through what Kaida did, but yet, it was happening, right here, and there was nothing he could do about it but hope.

Hope. A simple word, yet a huge meaning. It's what everyone strives and lives for. But with hope, anything is possible.

Then he heard a gasp. Cosmo opened his eyes, and grew a smile. Spyro's scales were returning back to their original purple. Sighs of relief were released into the air as time resumed. The cool breeze blew once again as Cosmo looked at everyone's expressions. They were so happy for him.

It didn't take long before Spyro's scales had returned to normal. When he finally woke up, he felt Cynder with her paws wrapped around him. "What . . . what's going on? What happened?"

Cynder pushed herself up to look into his eyes. "It's okay. You are safe now. Don't worry."

Sparx crossed his arms as he flew back up into the air. He began hovering beside Cynder and said with comfort, "Well now that we've dodged a crisis, how about we take care of that Phantom guy before he wakes back up?"

"Already did," the black fur dragon answered.

Now that Cosmo could get a good look at her, she seemed familiar. "_How uncanny._" He thought. "_Wait a minute._" Cosmo studied her features, then developed a surprised look. "Isis?"

"What?" Cynder began. "It can't be."

The fur dragon smiled. "Yes. It's me, Isis."

Cosmo looked her over, not able to believe this was true. "But, the spell failed. I saw it. We all saw it."

Isis shook her head. "No Cosmo, the spell didn't fail, it was a complete success. The spell that was used on me was different."

"How so?" Myrianda asked.

Isis showed a grin. She closed her eyes, then in a few seconds, she became enveloped in a bright light. It was bright, forcing Cosmo to squint. Then when it was over, he looked down to see a cat.

"I can change freely change forms whenever I want," Isis explained. "I even got my dragon time ability back."

"So that was how you flew so fast," Cosmo said in realization.

Isis nodded. "Yep, sure was."

Cosmo showed a grateful expression and turned his attention to Phantom. He made his way over to him and saw where Isis poured the pure essence. The liquid was still sizzling on his chest.

"I guess this is what Ignitus meant."

Isis took her place next to him as well as Yin. "The void is more powerful and dangerous than convexity. It isn't surprising that he hasn't changed back yet."

Yin took a careful look at the scene. The essence still sizzled on top of the black dragon's body and his scales had yet to show any sign of a different color. "Did you use the same essence we used on Spyro?"

Isis nodded in confirmation. "It will just take longer for the essence to work. Clover was corrupted by the void, not convexity. Which was how he was smarter than the dark beings and able to use elements."

Yin looked down toward the stone below, drifting off into her own thoughts. Spyro was nearly gone because she took her time in making that decision. If she wasn't so slow, he wouldn't have gotten hurt. But it did turn out okay in the end. Everyone was fine. Cosmo was a little bushed, but satisfied that he had done a good job. If only that vision could have waited, she could have saved Drad.

"So what happens now?" Myrianda asked from behind.

"Now," Cosmo began. "It's time to train Star and be ready for unforeseen battles ahead."


	58. Au Revoir

Chapter 58

Au Revoir

Yin couldn't believe it. Drad was gone. He was no longer in the Riverside Beauty. It seemed her unfortunate vision had come true.

There were several officials inside the inn, looking for clues in every dusty corner, making sure the place was well-searched. Yin and Myrianda watched them for a moment before one of the large dragons took notice of the concerned duo. He turned and spoke with a colleague for a short second, then approached the two of them as they waited at the door.

"What happened?" Yin asked grimly. Of course, she already knew the answer, but wanted to double-check.

"Someone else has gone missing and we were sent to investigate." The orange scaled dragon looked twice as big as them, yet still looked just as stern as they did. "Are you residents here by any chance?"

"Yes," Myrianda quickly answered. If she was distressed, she certainly didn't show it by the tone of her voice.

The official seemed to perk up a little. "Do you happen to know a Yin or Myrianda by any chance?"

The two dragoness' exchanged soleful looks. Myrianda shrugged and looked back at the official. "Why do you ask?"

The official stared at them for a brief moment, making Yin grow uncomfortable. "We found a note that has reference to them."

"We're Yin and Myrianda," Yin finally confessed. "A note?"

"A note of sorts," the official simply replied. "Wait here please."

The duo watched as the official walked back to his colleague and retrieved the note he had. He made his way back to them and handed the note over without a word. Yin quietly accepted it then held it in between her and Myrianda. They both read it silently.

** Dear Yin and Myrianda,**

** Well, if you are reading this, then I'm afraid my time has come. I've heard about all the kidnappings around the city and knew that eventually they would come for me too. I'm sorry but nothing can be done for me now. **

** I will leave the inn in your possession. Both of you know how to run it and I'm sure that you will without any problem. **

** I have one last request for you two. **

** Please, do not fret over me. Nothing can be done. I want you two to live the remainder of your lives without that burden. It wasn't your fault that this happened. Please, forget about me.**

** -Drad**

_The Following Morning_

_Tathric Range_

Isaac opened his eyes, then released a comforting yawn. He looked around himself to find that he was in bed, but most of everyone else was already up and about. The young swordsman could easily tell just by looking at all the empty beds in the room. It wasn't unusual for him to be a late sleeper.

Things had been pretty quiet up in the mountains. On some occasions there was a wandering dark being just outside the walls, but he was easily dealt with by Jaggle's pure essence. Isaac thought for sure that those dragons would attack them again, but so far it had been pretty peaceful.

The golden haired boy slowly stood to his feet in a groggy sort of manner. He wiped his eyes then quickly made his bed nice and neatly. Once he was finished, he put on his thick fur coat, doeskin boots, thick padded pants, and left the building.

Pretty typical for it to be snowing, especially this time of the year. As Isaac closed the door behind him, he saw plenty of snow sitting on the ground. With every chilly step, Isaac heard a crunch of the snow underneath his boots. An arctic breeze blew, making him throw his hood on his head.

There weren't hardly anyone outside. Though it wasn't unusual, it was pretty cold after all. But, of course, it always seemed Frederick never even noticed the weather. Isaac saw him as he looked down the mountain as he stood on the edge at the far end of the cold stone wall.

"It always seems like the cold never affects you," Isaac began as he approached the older swordsman. He wasn't even wearing a coat. Just his leather greaves and an orange colored tunic.

Frederick turned and made a slight grin at Isaac. "If you try, you can block it out." He always found it amusing to see Isaac completely covered in clothing.

Isaac stopped and carefully peered over the edge. "I don't see how it's possible." The young swordsman brought himself back to safety and asked, "By the way, how was the scouting in the city last night?"

"Everything went according to plan," Frederick explained. "Ignitus was kind enough to tell me that Phantom is no longer a threat. He will eventually wake up to find himself cured of the void."

"So he's Clover now?"

Frederick nodded. "I just wish we could do more for the city right now."

"You know we can't risk it," Isaac smartly replied. "If the wrong dragon spots a human in the city then we're in trouble. It's dangerous enough to go scouting right now."

Frederick let out a troubled sigh. "I know."

Then Isaac heard a faint roar coming from down below. It was hard to tell what it was though, a slight fog covered the area as well as the snow white tree tops. "What was that?"

Frederick just grinned. "Sounds like Jazz found his midday lunch."

"Wait . . . lunch?"

The older swordsman slowly turned his head and looked at Isaac expectantly. "When did you get out of bed?"

Isaac scratched the back of his head. He looked back down toward the trees below and sighed, "Erm . . . recently."

_Meanwhile_

_Elder Hall_

_Star's Room_

Everyone sat in Star's room, waiting for Ignitus to tell them what to do. Even Volteer was present. He sat beside five reborn spirit guardians,along with Spyro and Cynder, and Sparx.

"This is amazing, astounding, incredible, unbelievable, marvelous, dumbfounding,"

"Okay!" Sparx exclaimed. "Seriously, Volteer you need to chill out."

Volteer still held his smile. "But it's just simply astonishing! I knew about the six but I didn't realize they were already in the city. Even reunited! I find this a convenient turn of events, don't you Ignitus?"

Ignitus was busy keeping an eye on Star while he slept in his bed, but was still within earshot. "Yes, now we may train Star in the elements."

"Elements?" Star repeated as he stood to his feet. Ignitus watched him with surprise as the little dragon jumped out of bed, wide-awake.

"I had concluded that he was sleeping," Volteer speedily said.

Star showed a smile, "You mean like fire?"

Ignitus made a simple nod.

"Like this?"

Star inhaled a breathe of fresh air, then surprised everyone as he exhaled fire through his nostrils. Ignitus grew wide-eyed as he was forced to jump out of the way of the wild flames as they passed by right where he was standing. The flames collided against the fireplace, setting the wood inside of it ablaze, as well as the carpet that was in front of it.

Ignitus sighed. "Isis—".

"I'm on it," the fur dragon calmly said, reading the fire guardians mind.

She walked over to the slowly spreading fire and used the element of water on it. It felt so good to actually be able to do this again. She absolutely loved flying too.

In no time at all, the fire was doused and Isis obediently returned to her spot beside Cosmo without another word. Ignitus sighed once again as he looked down at the small green scaled toddler.

"Star," Ignitus began. "Please, do not do that."

"But did you see me?" Star asked, jumping up and down as he did.

"Yes, we saw you."

"So Ignitus," Spyro began, a bit surprised by what he just witnessed. "Since when could Star breathe fire?"

Everyone looked up at Ignitus, all wondering the same thing.

"I hope you all don't mind, but while you were out hunting for Phantom last night, I took some of my free time and helped Star out in the ways of fire." Ignitus looked down at Star for a moment to see a wide smile on his face. "However, his flames still need some . . . help."

"So what's the plan?" Cosmo asked.

Ignitus took a moment to recount his idea, then shared it in a calm and collective manner. "It's simple. Cosmo, you will train Star in the elements of fire, electricity, and earth."

Cosmo nodded in understanding. "I'll do my best."

"Isis, you will train Star in the elements of water and plasma. I also want you to help Cosmo out with electricity and earth."

The fur dragon smiled. "Alright."

"Yin, I want you to train Star with wind and ice. Now since the rest of your elements are taken, I want you to help out with fire and water as frequently as you can."

"I'll do my best."

Ignitus took a moment to think, then continued. "Blaze, I want you to train Star with poison and madness. If you are able, lend some help to Cosmo with earth."

Blaze made a simple nod.

"And Myrianda, you may train Star with fear and gamma. Help out as frequently as you can with ice as well."

Myrianda saluted. "Sir, yes sir!"

Ignitus chuckled, then continued. "Now when Clover wakes from his slumber, he will train Star in the two most dangerous of elements. Convexity, and the void. I want him to be alone with Star at all times." The red guardian then set his eyes on Spyro. "I want Spyro to stay away from him as he is training."

"Oh come on," Spyro began. "I'm alright Ignitus, honest."

"You can never be too careful."

Sparx crossed his arms. "That's my motto."

Ignitus ignored him and continued, "He will also help Isis with plasma." He then looked over at Volteer. "Volteer will help with the element of electricity as often as he can."

"What about us?" Spyro asked, referring to himself and Cynder.

Ignitus smiled. "Cynder, I want you to help with poison and shadow. If you can, get Kali to help you with shadow. I also want you to help out with fear if you get the chance. But only after Star master's shadow."

"Got it," the black dragoness replied.

Then Ignitus looked at Spyro. "Now for Spyro. I want you to help out the training in any way you can. Fire, electricity, ice, and earth."

"Okay," Spyro said.

"I also want everyone to be alert and keep an eye out for suspicious behavior. If anyone spots a dark being within a mile of the Hall, report to me or Shivertail and we will take care of the problem immediately."

_Three Days Later_

He opened his eyes to realize that these surroundings were unfamiliar. The room he occupied was fairly large and contained many beds, lined up against the wall. He laid on one of them in the far corner of the room. A fire crackled in the fireplace, located on the other side of the room, and a two golden chandeliers hung symmetrically to each other, providing a dim light into the windowless room.

As he carefully looked around, he shoved the covers off himself stood to his feet. His legs shook at first and he felt somewhat weak, unable to remember how he got in this predicament in the first place. The green scaled dragon looked at himself, unable to tell what had happened.

The dragon scratched his topaz belly as he stretched his lime colored wings. Dark gray spines traveled down his spine and all the way down to his tail, which ended in a silver triangular spike. His dark brown horns curved backwards and he took a look for any exits with his bright green eyes.

He also took note of a marking on his forearms. It almost resembled a four leaf clover.

A large door was spotted just across the room. The green scaled dragon, slowly made his way over to it, dodging various chairs and furniture along the way. He spotted some paintings on the wall and eyed them as he passed by. They weren't much, just random pictures of different dragons in several poses.

When he finally reached the door, he turned the glossy silver handle and slowly creaked it open. He opened it but only to a crack, just enough so he could take a look. It was a luxuriously decorated hallway. Several statues of different dragons sat on the sides, the flooring was made of marble, and a red velvet carpet stretched across it. It also seemed to be clear of guards.

The green scaled reptile finally opened the door enough for him to creep out, then carefully shut it, making sure not to make much noise. He looked both ways once again, then headed to his right. He passed by a few doorways and always took a peek in them before he passed by. There were a few large dragons in nearly every room he passed, but he always managed to slip by without being detected. It wasn't long before he found himself at the end the end of the hallway. He looked inside the last room to find it was unoccupied.

Then he heard some noise coming from behind him. He quickly turned to see a large red dragon coming toward him. To make matters worse, he was also spotted by him.

The red dragon realized who it was and began to run after him. The green scaled reptile quickly ran into the room he stood in front of and slammed the door shut behind him. Then he a noticed a window.

"How lucky," the dragon said to himself as he approached it. He stopped in front of it, then immediately began tampering with it's hinges as he heard the door being meddled with.

"Clover!" the dragon on the other side exclaimed. "It's alright! You are safe here!"

Then green dragon felt something brush up against his leg. He looked down to see a simple black cat, looking up at him.

The cat smiled up at him. "I would listen to him if I were you."

Clover looked surprised for a short moment, until the door was somehow opened. Clover didn't have time to think as the same large red dragon came rushing inside. He stopped as soon as he saw the black cat.

"Ah," the red dragon said. "Thank you Isis for letting me in."

"No problem Ignitus," she replied.

"Ignitus?" Clover repeated in a low tone.

Ignitus slowly approached Clover, being careful as he did. "It's all going to be okay Clover. You're safe in the Elder Hall."

"The Elder Hall? But . . . I don't remember coming here."

Clover looked down at the black cat in confusion. She just grinned up at him.

"All will be explained in time," Ignitus informed.

"Don't you remember anything?" the cat kindly asked.

Clover shrugged. "Very little."

Ignitus could tell he was being truthful. "Then allow me to explain what has happened and how you came to be here."

_Later_

_9:43 P.M._

Isis walked the lonely cold streets in her dragon form, thankful for her fur as a light snow fell from the clouds above. She loved to fly, but she was near her destination so she decided to give her wings a rest. Training Star wasn't all that easy.

Star was getting there with electricity. He was learning quite fast, but it wasn't surprising. With Isis's help, Cosmo's, and Volteer's, it was a walk in the park. His shots were still wild of course, but he was progressing nonetheless.

Then Isis turned and stopped in front of a door. She took a few seconds to regain her composure, then knocked on it three consecutive times. It only took a moment for the owner of the home to answer the door.

"It's good to see you again," a pure white dragoness greeted. "Do come in, I've made some hot tea if you wish to have some."

Isis smiled as she made her way inside. "Thanks, but I'm not much for a cup of tea."

The white dragoness shut the door then replied, still as happy as before. "That's quite alright, so what brings you to my humble home?"

Isis turned around to face her friend. "Well, I found some free time and I didn't know what to do with it. I'm not interrupting anything am I?'

"Not at all," she quickly replied. "In fact, I was growing quite lonely here by myself." The white dragoness made her way past Isis and sat down in front of her couch. She soaked in the warmth of the fire in her fireplace as she looked back at Isis with a grin. "You may sit if you wish."

Isis obliged and made herself comfortable. "Thanks. So anything interesting happen today at the hospital?"

The white dragoness shrugged. "It's been about the same. But lately, I keep seeing patients who are unconscious when they come in and they don't wake up for quite some time afterwards. But they always seem to be fine. Nothing physically wrong with them."

Isis knew it was dark beings. Jaggle must have been taking them in and doing whatever he could to help them out. But could she tell the dragoness that?

"I heard that a few of the missing dragons have been coming back," Isis hinted. "You think that could have anything to do with it."

"It's quite possible," the white dragoness replied. "So how have you been?"

"I've been doing a lot of flying recently," Isis joked.

The white dragoness giggled. "That's understandable for someone who had been a cat for all those long months."

The black fur dragon smiled. She had told her about the whole cat curse incident when she transformed back into her dragon self for the first time. She didn't really have a choice after all. The white dragoness saw the whole transformation right before her eyes.

"Oh yeah," Isis said in remembrance. "I meant to ask you earlier if you ever seen another dragon like yourself in the hospital recently."

"Why, whatever do you mean?"

"I mean a dragon with fur on his or her back. Like you."

"Hmm," the dragoness went as she wandered into thought. "As a matter of fact, yes, I have seen someone like me. Her name is Micha. She's been visiting the hospital every day to see her love. It's quite romantic."

"Micha?" Isis repeated. "I know her. She's a friend of mine, but I haven't seen her in a while."

"Perhaps you think it's appropriate to lend her a visit then?"

Isis nodded. "I believe you're right. But I'll have to do it in the morning."

"I hope so," the white dragoness replied. "She's been depressed lately. I can tell just by the gloomy look on her face."

"Don't worry about it, I will," Isis assured in a positive tone. She then stood to her feet, "Well, sorry for being so brief with you, but I probably need to return back home for the time being."

"That's alright," the white dragoness replied. "If you ever need me, then you're always welcome here."

"Thanks," the fur dragon happily replied.

"Au revoir Isis," the white dragoness smiled. "Merci beaucoup for the visit."

Isis stopped for a moment, then showed a wide smile herself. "Fancy. I guess you did move here from a luxurious city." The white dragoness still showed her grin. "May I ask where it was exactly?"

"Oh?" Isis's friend began. Her smile slowly disappeared and somehow, the fur dragoness could feel the air change. "Well . . . have you ever heard of the city named Clawstone?"

The fur dragon shook her head. "Can't say that I have."

The white scaled dragoness looked in front of her toward the fire. She watched it for a short moment, then continued. "That is not very surprising I suppose. What's the furthest you ever been away from home?"

Isis cocked an eye. "Believe it or not, I've been quite far. I've been through Garipton, Corspon, and into the next region of Highscales."

"That's quite a trip," the white dragoness replied, slightly surprised. "Perhaps you will tell me a story of your adventures someday?"

Isis's signature smile slowly crept back onto her face.

_The Following Morning_

Kali didn't know why Isis was in such a rush. She hardly took any time to eat breakfast. The black fur dragon only mentioned that she had a morning errand to run and left no other details.

"Quite baffling," Cosmo remarked, watching Isis fly off as fast as possible. "Maybe she just wants some time to fly."

"I've seen her do flying tricks yesterday," Kali replied as they walked back into her house. "It's amazing on what she can do. She's quite the agile flier."

Cosmo flopped backwards on the couch, making himself comfortable. "I should watch her sometime. Could be worthwhile." Then he changed the subject as Kali took her place next to him. "Are you going to help train Star today?"

"I don't know," Kali answered with uncertainty. "I've never actually trained anyone before."

"Neither have I," Cosmo replied. "It's not as hard as it sounds. Especially with someone like Star." Then he smiled. "Besides, Cynder needs your help with the shadow element."

The blue dragoness looked over at Cosmo and she could tell, just by the look on his face, that he had confidence in her. "Alright, I suppose I can give it shot. But I'm not promising anything."

"You don't have to. All you need to do is try."

Kali then showed a grin. "What would I do without you?"

Cosmo shrugged. "Other stuff, I don't mean bad stuff, I just mean—"

Kali interrupted Cosmo with a move he wasn't expecting. The yellow dragon's mood immediately perked up when he found out the blue dragoness was kissing him. He returned the favor as soon as he could, more than content of the his situation.

"_This is great,_" Cosmo happily thought. "_This couldn't get any better._"

Not a moment later, Kali pulled away, showing a wide smile. Before Cosmo could ask, she answered, "Just showing my appreciation."

Cosmo showed a smile, but still wasn't able to talk. Kali studied his face for a moment. The blue dragoness wasn't sure, but it looked like Cosmo was deep in thought.

"Hey," Kali began, tapping him on his left shoulder. "You okay?"

"Of course!" Cosmo jubilantly answered. "Couldn't be better."

The blue dragoness' smile returned, then she continued. "Let's get going to the Elder Hall then."

Cosmo watched Kali stand to her feet, then he quickly followed suit. But what Kali didn't notice was Cosmo's expression. It didn't look happy, which wasn't expected.

"_Kali,_" Cosmo began in his thoughts. However he shook his head clean of them then returned his attention toward the blue dragoness in front of him.

_Meanwhile_

Isis was always wild when it came to flying. She didn't know if it was the sheer height, the wind in her face, or whether if she just enjoyed feeling adrenaline go through her body, but something about it reignited a spark inside of her.

Seeing that the skies were clear of dragons for the moment, Isis performed a few somersaults over the city. She then turned herself over and began flying upside-down. It was actually quite difficult, but Isis was good enough to pull it off without even thinking about it. With everything inverted in her view, Isis closed her eyes and smiled as a few dragons on the street below looked up at her in wonder. It wasn't often you saw a full fur dragon in the city, especially during these troublesome times.

"Hey there," emitted an unsettled voice.

Isis opened her eyes then turned herself over and looked around herself. She spotted a slightly larger dark orange male dragon following her.

"You've got some good moves," the stranger continued. "Can you land for a moment?"

"Erm . . . okay."

Isis was unsure about it, but decided to make her brief landing anyways. The orange dragon followed suit. The street she was on was empty. She could barely see a dragon walking down it in the distance, but he was definitely out of earshot.

"So," Isis began, turning toward the stranger. "What is it?"

Then the orange dragon showed an uneasy smile. "How about we go to a nearby alleyway? I bet I can show you a good time."

Isis raised an eye. "So you think I'm hot?"

The orange dragon nodded. Then he suddenly felt himself being lifted off the ground. He looked down to see his feet dangling in mid-air as he slowly rose up over Isis. "Wha—what's going on?"

Isis smiled. "It's flattering, really, but you're not my type. Now I can just throw you off and be done with you, but you caught me in a pleasant mood. I'll just let you go for now."

Then Isis let the dragon go. He managed to land on his feet, confused and surprised by what just happened.

"Thanks for telling me I'm good looking though," Isis flattered.

Without another word, she took off like a bullet and headed straight back into the skies. It didn't take her long before she reached a speed that she was most comfortable with. Fast.

Time passed as Isis thought about what that dragon said about her. She didn't know whether she could actually be with a male dragon, but to actually hear one say she was good looking made her grin. It had been far too long since she had been told that and it made her feel quite good about herself.

A few minutes passed and Isis found herself nearing her destination. She pulled off one quick somersault before landing on the street in front of the hospital, satisfied with herself as she entered the white building.

It seemed kind of empty. There wasn't much going on inside the hospital, at least from the lobby. Isis didn't know whether it was a good or a bad thing. Regardless, she made her way toward the counter on the left side of the doorway. She smiled as she spotted her white scaled friend working the counter.

"Good morning," the white dragoness happily greeted. "I'm glad to see that you are going through with your plan."

"Yeah, but I don't have much free time though so it will have to be quick," Isis replied. "Is Micha here?"

Her friend nodded. "She came in about thirty minutes ago. You'll find her in room 110 along with Torch. Don't forget your tag."

The white dragoness nudged a tag that was labeled, visitor. It was made to be hung around the neck, so Isis did just that. "Thanks."

"you're welcome."

Isis made her way across the lobby and into the hallway. A few doctors occupied it and did double takes when they saw her furry appearance. Isis was too busy to notice them as she was looking at the room numbers every time she passed by a doorway. It only took her a few moments to locate room 110. Before opening the door, she peeked through the window to make sure Micha was there. Isis saw the pink dragoness standing beside Torch while the red dragon slept on the bed. From what the black fur dragon could tell, the pink dragoness had both of her paws on Torch's chest. Was something wrong?

Isis quickly opened the door and made her way inside in a casual manner. What she saw was quite unusual. Micha's paws seemed to be glowing as they hung inches above Torch's chest. The pink dragoness noticed the new company, and the glow had slowly dissipated.

"Micha?" Isis begun. "What was that?"

"Close the door," she quietly commanded.

Isis obliged and obeyed her without question.

"Who are you?" Micha asked, in a less silent tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Relax Micha," Isis hastily replied, trying to sound as sincere as possible. "I'm a friend. We know each other actually."

"Never seen you before in my life," Micha defensively retorted.

Isis still kept her distance. "Does the name Isis bring anything to mind?"

Micha squinted in thought for a second, then answered. "Maybe. Depends on who's asking."

"I'm Isis," the fur dragon remarkably indicated. "I was the cat at the festival a while back. Remember?"

The pink dragoness grew surprised. "you're Isis? But . . . you look so different."

"I'm a dragon. Well, a fur dragon. It's a long story."

Micha sighed, then became more relaxed. "What are you doing here?"

Isis slowly made her way toward, still taking it slow. "I came to see how you were doing."

"Wait, are you the one who's been helping out with my bills?"

Isis shook her head. "Nope. Yin has been doing that."

"Yin," Micha quietly repeated. "I haven't seen her since the day this happened." She referred to Torch's injury.

"She got herself a job," Isis informed. She stood beside Micha, being as friendly as possible. She took a look at Torch, who was on a plushy bed, underneath a thin blue cover. "I seen her sending money to the hospital yesterday."

Micha turned away from Isis. "I don't want her to."

"Micha," Isis began. "Yin is just helping you."

"I know," Micha quietly replied. "And while I appreciate it, I don't want it to be a burden to her."

"It's not a burden," the black fur dragoness assured. "She feels like it was her fault that Torch is in this situation."

Micha turned back and looked Isis in the eyes. "It wasn't her fault. It was mine."

Isis grew surprised. "What?"

"We got into a fight earlier that day," Micha lowly explained. "Torch had been exploring these underground tunnels and he would spend all day in them. I told him off, and he left. I didn't know where he went, until I heard he was in the hospital. I blamed Yin out of anger against myself, but I knew it wasn't her fault."

"It wasn't your fault either," Isis said, trying her best to convince her. "It was Torch's decision to fight Yin's battle."

Micha shook her head, "Regardless, it doesn't change Torch's situation. But still . . . thanks for trying to cheer me up."

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure this will work itself out."

Micha smiled then sat down on a nearby chair.

Isis stood in her spot, then remembered that light that came from this dragoness' paws earlier. What was that? Should she ask or would it be out of line?

So Isis began, "Hey, I heard a funny story the other day."

"Oh really?"

"It had something to do with dragons with fur on their backs. Much like you."

Micha flinched. "Erm . . . okay, continue."

Isis showed an uneasy smile. "I heard that dragons, who had fur on their backs, could use two different elements. Isn't that funny?"

Micha sighed. She looked back at Torch, then at Isis. "Who did you hear this from?"

It took a moment for her to answer. "I heard it from a friend of mine. She had fur on her back as well."

"Well," Micha began. "It's a true story. We're dragons. But a different breed of dragons. Just like you. You are a fur dragon. A more rare breed of dragon."

"So if it's true, then may I ask, what elements can you use?"

Micha blinked, then looked back at Torch. "Well, to put it simply, I'm a healer. I'm sure you noticed that light from earlier."

"Yeah," Isis admitted.

"The doctors think that a some sort of unexplained phenomenon is how Torch is getting better. What they don't know is that I've been healing him with my second element. Healing."

"Never heard of it," Isis replied.

"It's very rare for a dragon to heal another. It's even more rare to do it successfully. I don't know if Torch told you before, but when we met, I just arrived in the city and I was looking for a place to live. When I ran into Torch, we got into talking, had dinner, I told him my story and he told me his, then he offered me a place to live."

Isis nodded in understanding. "Does Torch know about your healing abilities?"

"Yes," Micha answered. "When Torch hurt himself in a flying accident, I healed him. However using this element tires me out, so Torch told me countless times to only use it when necessary."

"I see," Isis simply replied, understanding the matter completely. "You don't want the doctors to know because you don't want them to use you."

Micha showed an uneasy nod as she swallowed. "Well . . . yeah. I know it's wrong to keep this gift a secret, but if the wrong dragon knew about this—"

"I can put the pieces together," Isis interrupted. "Anyways, I better get going."

"Just please," Micha began. She sighed then looked back at Torch. "Don't tell anyone. I wouldn't have told you if you didn't catch me."

Isis nodded. "Of course. I understand." She then smiled. "As a friend of mine would say, au revoir."

The black dragoness could tell that Micha had no idea what she just said just by the look on her face. "Au revoir?"

It was amusing for Isis to see Micha wondering what that phrase meant. Her smile still sat in it's place as Isis answered back, "It basically means, 'farewell' or 'goodbye'."

"I know," Micha immediately replied. "I just haven't heard that phrase in a long time."

At this point, Isis was intrigued. Her smile slowly vanished as she made her way into her own thoughts. If Micha knew what au revoir meant, then could that mean . . . ?

"Au revoir Isis."

Isis's thoughts were interrupted as she noticed Micha was showing a small grin. When she said that phrase, it was almost like it was a completely different dragon sitting in that chair. Her accent had changed, which caught Isis off-guard. But she decided not to push the matter. Micha was going through enough as it was. She didn't need a fur dragon poking her nose into her business. So she decided to take her leave.

_Later_

_Elder Hall Training Room_

The training room was very secure and secluded. Guards would usually occupy the large area by training themselves in the elements, but were given a break by Shivertail himself. It was here where Star had been doing his training.

The room featured many targets down ranges for Star to shoot. Spyro could tell that the targets were being used just by looking at all the black spots on them. They were very hard to miss. Although he couldn't tell whether this was a room in the Elder Hall, or just some secret backyard he never knew about. The room featured several open windows and the walls were made of stone. There were actually several large trees in the room, which sprouted up into the open sky. The purple dragon noticed there was no roof, maybe they were just in an enclosed area outside?

At the moment, Kali and Cynder were busy helping Star learn the shadow element. The blue dragoness wasn't sure that she could do it, but Cynder, along with Cosmo, continued to encourage her to do her best.

Spyro was as still as stone. He watched Star in awe as he began to use the shadow element, turning himself invisible for a brief moment. The purple dragon couldn't believe how fast this dragon was learning the elements. It was quite unnatural. Of course, Star wasn't your normal dragon toddler either.

"Psst," a voice emanated from behind.

Spyro turned and looked through an open window and was surprised to see a human standing on the other side of it.

"Frederick?" Spyro quietly began. He slowly made his way over toward him, "What are you doing here?"

Frederick looked through the window, but only spotted Star, Cynder, and Kali. "Where is Ignitus?"

Spyro shrugged. "Clover woke up earlier today so Ignitus has been with him."

"Ah," the human simply said, understanding the situation. "I can't stay here for much longer, so will you pass on my message to him? It regards everyone." Frederick almost sounded troubled.

Spyro nodded. "Of course."

Frederick looked over Spyro's shoulder and saw that Cynder and Kali were looking at him. But they immediately turned their attention back to Star. "Well . . . I'm afraid I bring dire news about the dark beings. During my scout earlier today, I happened to spot three dark beings in an alleyway. I approached them, but it seems these dark beings were . . . different."

Spyro frowned. "How so?"

"They were just like Clover," Frederick explained distressingly. "It seems this trio were infected by the void. They spoke, and fought back. I barely escaped."

"Are you alright?" Spyro sincerely asked.

Frederick nodded, "I'm fine, thank you for your concern. But it seems Ismeral Nexis is getting desperate if he's sending out void infected troops. No doubt he's after Star."

"We'll keep our eyes open for anything suspicious," Spyro assured.

"Spyro," Frederick began, his voice a bit lower than before. "If it comes down to it, they must be killed. You can't risk it."

The purple dragon was silent for a moment. He looked down distastefully and turned away. "I know. I'll tell everyone as soon as I can."

True to his word, Spyro waited in the training grounds until Ignitus came back. Spyro told him about Frederick's warning, and Ignitus immediately grew more worried about the situation.

_Later_

_Midnight_

The purple dragon decided he was going to stay in the Elder Hall for now. No telling when those dark beings Frederick mentioned were going to show up. Better safe than sorry. Most of everyone else thought the same, except for Yin and Myrianda. Yin mentioned she had some errands to do at the Riverside Beauty while Myrianda said something about an open bar.

At the moment, Spyro was trying his best to have a comforting sleep in a large bed. He stayed still, not wanting to disturb Cynder beside him. He was too worried to sleep right now. Instead, Spyro looked at everyone else in the room.

The room was just like the one where Clover was, just in a different location. It held more beds and less furniture though. The fireplace was still burning, but it's flame was nearly out. The purple dragon watched the glowing red wood inside it for a moment, before shutting his eyes once more. It wasn't that he was cold, the room was at a good temperature for his liking, neither was it because he wasn't used to sharing a room with four fellow friends.

The purple dragon sighed and creaked his eyes back open. He looked toward the other side of the room and saw Cosmo and Kali, sleeping together in the same bed, just like him and Cynder. Blaze slept in the bed, closest to the corner near the door, while Clover slept just beside him. He had no idea where Isis was. Probably still outside flying in the cold wind. If it wasn't for her fur, Spyro figured she would have been inside, sleeping the night away.

Eventually, Spyro finally fell asleep. Although if he knew he was going to have this dream, he would have fought to stay awake.

_Spyro's Dreamworld_

_Sunrise_

Things were not going as planned. The sun was beginning to show it's orange on the horizon, revealing the puffy clouds in the blue sky. A warm breeze blew through the death filled air, carrying screams and cries of agony along with it. Spyro just wanted it to be over. He was tired of fighting, but they still seemed to press on, determined to wipe out the whole city, or die trying.

"Spyro! Look out!" Cynder yelled.

The purple dragon barely managed to dodge a crushing blow from the overweight human. He wore silver metal armor from head to toe and carried an iron warhammer as his weapon. To make matters worse, his armor was enchanted. To make matters even more worse, there were two of them.

It was only Cynder and himself now. These two brutes killed off the rest of Spyro's help. The only good news was that there was plenty of room in this particular square to fight them off, and they didn't have any backup with them. But it still didn't help Spyro in figuring out how he was supposed to take out someone like this. Elements would do no good on enchanted armor. The only thing the two dragons could do was take the armor off. But every time they got close to them, the brutes would attack.

Spyro and Cynder both back up in unison, growling at the two humans, attempting to intimidate them.

"Foolish dragons," the human on the left boasted. He gripped his warhammer tightly as he continued, "You really think you have a chance? We have yet to face an enemy we could not conquer. What makes you think you can make a difference?"

The two humans looked at one another, then charged with their warhammers raised.


	59. Instant Regret

Chapter 59

Instant Regret

Spyro and Cynder leaped out of harms way as two warhammers were slung downwards, impacting the spot the dragons was just standing on. The stone cracked, making an indent, and the two humans easily picked their weapons back up and turned toward the last two remaining dragons in the square. It was hard to tell what they were thinking. Both of them had helmets on that covered their faces.

Somehow, the two dragons were going to have to get at least one piece of their armor off. Until then, they were going to have to keep their cool as well as distance, at least until they figured out a plan of action. But it was hard to think with all the screams of suffering in the air.

The humans began another charge, determined to get rid of the two dragons. Spyro quickly shot a bolt of electricity, striking the human on the right before arcing to the other one. The attack made the enemies stop as their armor soaked up the lightening, but it was only for a moment before they charged once more. It was fairly easy to dodge heavy attacks like that, considering how heavy the warhammers must have weighed.

As the hammers came down, Spyro and Cynder dodged to the side.

"Now Cynder!" Spyro commanded.

Reading his mind, Cynder mimicked Spyro as he jumped on the back of the human that attacked him. The human grunted as he threw himself around, trying his best to get the heavy dragon off himself, leaving his warhammer behind on the ground. Finally, the human fell backwards in an attempt to pin the dragon down, but not before Spyro knocked his helmet off. The over-sized soldier grew shocked as he slammed himself down into the ground with the dragon underneath him. The purple dragon felt a sharp pain in his ribs as hundreds of pounds fell onto him. The human turned, still keeping the dragon pinned underneath him, but met an awful surprise. Spyro's open maul.

The purple dragon let out his flames onto the humans face. Within moments, the soldier's face didn't even look human anymore and he became lifeless.

"Spyro!" cried Cynder.

The purple dragon looked toward the source to see Cynder on the ground with the last human standing over her with his warhammer raised.

"NO!" Spyro exclaimed, pushing the dead human off himself. He shot a fireball as soon as he could, making the soldier lower his hammer, but the human's armor soaked up the attack, rendering it useless.

The soldier growled in anger, then raised his warhammer once again. "None of you are going to survive this!"

As soon as the soldier swung his hammer downwards, an earth missile came out of nowhere, knocking the human down to slide a few feet. He laid there for a moment, then groaned as he slowly stood to his feet, uttering some words in a language Spyro didn't recognize. From the tone of his voice, he doubted it was anything pleasant.

Spyro quickly rushed over to Cynder to see that she was hurt. The black dragoness held her front left paw in pain. Then the purple dragon noticed a sight that made his smile. A large greenish dragon made his way toward them, being careful as he did.

"Terrador!" Spyro called out.

When Terrador set his eyes on the two dragons, he quickly rushed over to them in worry. "Are both of you alright?" Then he noticed Cynder. "What's wrong?"

Cynder winced in pain as she answered, "I jumped him, then he threw me off and stepped on my paw. I think it's broken."

Then the group heard a war cry as the human soldier from before began his reckless charge toward Spyro. Terrador growled in frustration and took Spyro's place by stepping in front of him. The human showed no signs that he was going to back down.

As the human swung his warhammer towards Terrador's head, he raised the earth in front of him into a shield, blocking the attack. The green scaled guardian let the shield down and pulled the earth up under the human fast enough to knock him into the air. The soldier lost his warhammer by the sudden upward jerk and realized he was in free-fall twenty feet in the air. Terrador took careful aim, then let loose one final earth missile. It impacted the human with enough force behind it to send him flying over Warfang's buildings and out of sight.

"He's gone," Terrador began in a relieved voice. "I'm sure he wouldn't be able to survive the fall. Even if he did, he is without his weapon and is defenseless."

"What about Cynder?" Spyro asked with worry. He stood beside her, trying his best to help her up to her feet.

Terrador closely examined Cynder's front left paw. He took a moment to answer, "It doesn't seem that bad, but I would have a medical official take a look at it." The guardian then turned to Cynder, his face filled with concern. "Can you walk?"

The black dragoness was finally on her feet, but she wrapped her good paw around Spyro's neck for support. "As long as I have some help, yes."

Spyro knew this was a dream. He had already seen all of this happen before and had no intention of waiting until Terrador's unfortunate fate. He tried to stop himself as he helped Cynder across the empty begotten streets, but he felt as if he had no control over his body.

As they walked down the street, a group of humans ambushed them from the rooftops. One of them leaped for the earth guardian, landing on his back with his sword in hand. Spyro closed his eyes, heard the sword thrust into Terrador's neck, then felt everything drift away.

_Present Time_

"Spyro! Spyro! Wake up!"

Groggily, the purple dragon creaked his eyes open, only to realize he was being shook on the shoulder by Cynder. The solemn look on her face immediately made Spyro uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" Spyro asked, rubbing the sleep out his eyes.

"Dark beings!" exclaimed Cynder. "They're right outside the hall trying to fight their way through the guards!"

"Where's everyone else?" Spyro jumped out of bed and quickly made his way out the room and into the exquisite hallway.

Cynder followed him closely, explaining while she did. "Myrianda and Yin aren't here. Isis and Clover are nowhere to be found either."

Both of them turned a corner and continued down the hall as quick as they could. "What about Kali and Cosmo?"

"Kali went to warn Ignitus and Shivertail while Cosmo went ahead! We have to help him!"

They turned the last corner and saw the exit. It looked like it was still dark out, like it was in the middle of the night. The sound of fighting was heard as the duo charged toward them. Spyro hoped it didn't have to come to this. But these dark beings were too dangerous to attempt to even try to use pure essence on. Star's life was on the line. And if Star's life was at risk, so were theirs.

The purple dragon emerged from the doorway to see things were not going as planned. Both of the entrance guards were laying on the ground with a pool of their own blood underneath them. All three dark beings stared down Cosmo as he backed up against the buildings behind him. Before any of them could turn around, Spyro charged and tackled the nearest one. He quickly clawed the dark being's back and blew ice through his maul, slowly freezing the enemy below him. But the purple dragon's dominant position didn't last long as the dark being sent electricity through his body, forcing the purple dragon to let him free. Spyro felt the volts travel through his body as he fell backwards toward the ground. Cynder immediately pulled him out of harms way before the dark dragon's spiked tail could impale him where he laid.

"Blast," Spyro muttered. "My wound is starting to hurt again." He slowly stood to his feet as the three dark beings turned to face him.

"Well, well, well," uttered the dark being Spyro tackled. "It seems the purple dragon is here as well."

"How delightful," the dark dragon on the right side hissed.

The dark being in the middle showed a dark grin towards Spyro and Cynder. "Without him around, the city's faith will no longer be a threat."

Without warning, they all attacked with fire. A wave of flames rushed towards Spyro and Cynder with nowhere to escape. The purple dragon quickly concentrated and raised the earth in front of him, blocking the flames. As soon as the flames dissipated, the stone and sand fell down to the ground, leaving the dragons unharmed.

"Hey!" Cosmo called out. The dark beings looked, but only the one towards his left turned to face him.

The dark being showed a plain look as he looked the yellow dragon over. "We did not forget about you."

"I know," Cosmo simply replied. "I just wanted you to see this one coming."

The yellow dragon quickly shot a line of red electricity into the dark being. The dragon growled as he burst into flames, unable to move from the shock he was given.

"Help," he managed to utter, still burning from the flames.

The dark being next to him threw up an earth shield as he jumped in front of Cosmo's attack. It grounded out the electricity, but the shield itself still burned. The yellow dragon had no choice but to take a breather, so he ceased his attack.

"Fire and electricity," Spyro said to himself. "Nice one, Cosmo."

He didn't have much time to think about it as the remaining dark dragon attacked with his flames once more. Spyro ran off to the side, dodging the flames, while Cynder leaped up over them and flew toward the dark being himself. She closed in on him and lobbed a glob of poison towards the enemy. He quickly ceased his flames and rolled off to the side, evading the attack thrown at him. The poison hissed on the ground as the dark dragon shot an ice spike towards the airborne dragoness. Cynder quickly dodged and used shadow to render herself invisible as Spyro let his flames loose upon the dark being. He cringed as the flames smothered him, but managed to launch a fireball toward Spyro's direction. The purple dragon quickly set up his earth shield as the fireball collided a few inches beside him. He felt the small explosion, but the earth shield took most of it.

Then Spyro looked over to see Cynder and Cosmo engaging in combat against the other two dark beings. But then grew surprised as an ice spike headed his way. Spyro threw his head down toward the ground, barely avoiding the deadly attack. He looked over to see the dark being had already recovered and was now on the offensive.

The black dragon launched another fireball toward the purple dragon as he charged towards him. Spyro rapidly raised the earth in front of him into a wall, making the fireball collide against it instead of him. The wall quickly crumbled away to reveal the dark being doing something that simply made Spyro surprised and annoyed. The dark dragon charged up an attack, then fired.

Spyro leaped out of the way and rapidly flapped his wings to get in the air as a green beam chased his every move. The purple dragon growled as he flew toward the dark dragon, but was immediately forced to back off, due to the beam of plasma getting too close to him. It would be too reckless to attack at the moment. He was just going to have to evade, but with each passing second, it was growing harder and harder.

Then Spyro managed to catch a glimpse of black in the cold moonlight sky, heading straight toward him. The purple dragon watched it the best he could for a second, then realized the object was moving incredibly fast. What is that?

It didn't take long for the question to answer itself as the object quickly changed directions and collided against the dark being attacking the purple dragon. Spyro stopped and hovered in the air, allowing himself to breathe, as he watched the object grab the dark dragon and take him up into the air.

Spyro smiled to himself. "Isis." He looked back at Cynder and Cosmo to see they were still fighting and still seemed to be in one piece. So he decided to go and give them a much needed assist.

Meanwhile, Isis was having a time with her new enemy. Still in her grapple, the dark being opened his mouth a let out his flames, smothering the fur dragon in them. Isis quickly twisted herself around and threw the dark dragon out into the nightly skies. She shot a quick jolt of lightening, striking the dark being as he tried to straighten himself out in the air. He fell a few feet before managing to catch himself with his wings.

"You singed my fur," Isis threateningly said. She felt the burnt hairs on her head, and realized it wasn't that bad. She still had fur, it was now just shorter in that area.

"You had it coming," the dark dragon retorted. "I almost had that purple beast until you showed up. You ruined it."

"Heh," smiled Isis. "It's what I do. Allow me to repay you for the neat haircut."

Then the black fur dragoness dived toward her enemy. Her sheer speed took him off guard, and before anything could be done, she collided against him, then felt something cut through his neck.

"No refunds," Isis simply said, sounding less enthusiastic than earlier.

The black dragon couldn't speak, couldn't flap his wings, and worst of all, he couldn't breathe. He couldn't believe how this dragoness sliced his neck open. She was too fast for him.

Isis flapped her wings and leveled herself out, then watched as the dark dragon showed one last evil grin before hitting the stone cold street below. The fur dragoness heard bones break and saw blood escaping the back of the dragon's head and onto the stone.

"Lousy service anyways."

Cynder was getting along quite nicely when Spyro decided to step in and help. The dark dragon didn't take being double teamed too lightly as he launched anger filled fireballs toward the duo. They both dodged, just escaping the explosions they caused, and attacked simultaneously, ready to end it. Cynder spread her wings and mustered a great wind, blowing the dark being to the point to where he could barely stand. The dark dragon growled and attacked with his flames, only to have the wind blow his own attack back into his face.

Now it was Spyro's turn.

The purple dragon spread his wings much like Cynder, then a charge of electricity traveled through his wings. After a short moment, he let it out. A storm of electricity escaped from the purple dragon's whole body and struck the dark dragon fast.

"It doesn't matter what happens here!" the dark being bellowed. "None of you can escape your fate!"

The black dragon felt his heart rate increase in speed steadily, then it completely stopped a few moments after. Spyro and Cynder ceased their attack satisfied of the work they had done.

"Give up!" the last remaining dark being commanded. "You won't win this war!"

"Oh really?" sneered Cosmo. He smiled as Isis landed beside him and saw that Spyro and Cynder were behind the enemy as well. "What makes you think that?"

"You think I'm the only one left?" the dark being boasted, not even paying attention that he was outnumbered. "I have hundreds of brothers, all under the command of our master, Ismeral Nexis. All he has to do is snap his fingers and this trash-heap of a city will become rubble."

Isis butted in, unable to keep quiet. "All the more reason to kill him first."

Then the dark being showed a vicious smile. He peered straight into Cosmo's eyes, then looked down toward the ground. The yellow dragon watched him, unable to tell what he was up to as the dark dragon closed his own eyes, then began to groan as if he were in pain.

"What is he doing?" Spyro whispered to Cynder.

But before that question could be answered, Spyro saw Kali and Ignitus emerge from the Elder Hall. The fire guardian looked at the scene as saw two dead guards on the ground. As soon as Ignitus set his eyes on the dark being, he grew wide-eyed.

"Get out of there!" Ignitus yelled out. "Into the Hall! Hurry!"

Spyro didn't argue, especially since it was Ignitus. He didn't hesitate to obey and ran toward the fire guardian. Cynder followed. Cosmo and Isis eyed the dark being one last time, seeing that he was now screaming in pain and looking up into the dark sky. What was he doing?

Isis ran off first. A short second passed, then Cosmo went, unable to tell what he was doing. But Cosmo's feet didn't carry him far. As he ran, he heard an explosion from behind him, then the shockwave threw him away like a ragdoll. He tumbled, then hit the wall of the Elder Hall, then everything went dark.

_Meanwhile_

Yin deeply sighed to herself. It seemed as if she had gotten herself in this situation before. This was worse than the dark beings. This was utter torture that only a cruel dragon could think up.

"Yip," Myrianda slurred, drunk and disorderly. She slowly looked around the empty bar she and her occupied, then turned back toward the white dragoness.

"Yin," she replied back, thought she knew it was useless.

Myrianda showed a goofy smile. "I like that name. Yip. How did . . . how did you think of it?"

The white dragoness slammed her face into the bar out of frustration. "I should have thought ahead. I knew there was a bar on this street but did I listen to that little voice in my head? No, of course not."

"Who," Myrianda began, though her drunken state caused her to forget what she was about to ask. "Have you ever gone . . . on an easter egg hunt before? There's one . . . in a few days."

Yin shook her head at the pink dragoness, disregarding her babbling nonsense. "Myrianda, don't you think it's time to go home? It is midnight after all."

Myrianda took another swallow of the felix in her glass. "But there's a lots of stuffs to . . . do after . . . what was that word again?"

"Like sleep?"

The drunken dragoness nodded. "Yeah. Hey . . . how did you know that's what I do at night? You . . . umm . . . watchin' me?"

Yin rolled her eyes. "At least you aren't plowed to the point where you can't talk."

Myrianda took another swallow of felix, but then realized something. There wasn't anything in it? "Hey . . . who stole my rainbow?"

"Rainbow?" replied the disbelieved Yin.

Myrianda went to set the glass on the bar, but were intoxicated state made her miss the whole bar. She let the glass drop onto the stone floor below, shattering it into many glistening pieces. The brown scaled bartender looked at Myrianda in an irritated fashion, but let the incident slide. It wasn't the first time something like that happened.

"My rainbow!" Myrianda exclaimed, standing to her feet.

"Myrianda!" Yin cried out. "There's glass on the floor! Be careful!"

The white dragoness stood to her feet, avoiding the shards of glass waiting to prick her paws. She grabbed Myrianda's paw, giving her support so she wouldn't fall over.

"Hey," Myrianda slurred. "How did I . . . stand up?" Then she noticed Yin beside her. "Oh hey Yip . . . when did you get here?"

The bartender wasn't even showing interest at the moment. He just wiped the bar with a wet cloth, making sure it was clean.

Yin sighed. "When you pass out, remind me to put you in rehab."

"I don't need rehab," Myrianda quickly retorted as if her intoxication didn't exist. "I can quit when I want."

The white dragoness shook her head, then realized what she just said. She slowly turned toward the bartender to see him staring at her in an odd way.

"Rehab?" the bartender repeated in question. "I've never heard of search a term. May I ask what it is?"

Yin chuckled to herself uneasily. "Oh . . . well . . . it's a . . . term we singers use. It would take all night for me to explain."

"Hmm," the bartender simply went. "Well, good luck getting home." The brown scaled dragon showed a friendly grin, "Especially with that pink menace."

"Hey," Myrianda began. "I'm drunk . . . not deaf."

"Too bad you won't remember a thing tomorrow morning," Yin joked. She turned back toward the bartender. "Occasionally she knows what she's talking about, but other cases, she's like this. Someone has to make sure she doesn't fly home, right?"

The bartender chuckled for a moment, then replied, "Yes, I suppose so."

This wasn't the first time Yin had seen dragon. Every time Myrianda dragged her along, Yin would always see him working the counter. This was just the first time they had an actual conversation.

"So," Yin began, she peered down toward the shards of glass on the floor and the bartender read her mind.

"Don't worry about it. A dragoness like yourself shouldn't worry about such things. I'll clean it up later."

Yin smiled. "Thanks."

_The Next Morning_

Pain. A rushing pain went through his body as he creaked his eyes open. Cosmo groaned as he slowly sat up to find himself in a familiar room full of empty beds. But he wasn't alone. A purple wing laid over him as he was under the thick covers.

"Cosmo," the dragoness next to him began in a low voice.

The yellow dragon turned over and spotted Kali laying in the same bed next to him. He slowly sat back down and put his head back on the comfy pillow below.

"What happened?" Cosmo lowly asked.

Kali looked down toward the fireplace to see red embers still inside it, but the fire itself was completely doused. She looked back up to Cosmo with relief and finally answered in the same tone as him. "I don't know how, but that dark dragon made himself explode."

"What?" Cosmo said in surprise.

Kali continued, "Ignitus told us that the void in his body may have had something to do with it. He mentioned that the dark being used his own energy and combined it with the void. We really don't know any more than that."

Cosmo sighed and looked back up towards the dark ceiling. "Great. Suicide bombers. Reminds me of some memories of being a human that I wish to forget." Kali remained quiet, so he asked, "How long was I out?"

The blue dragoness shrugged, "Well, I think it's almost ten in the morning, but don't you worry about it. Your head will get better before you know it."

"My head?" Cosmo repeated with a naïve tone. He put a paw on his head, only to discover a bandage wrapped around it.

"You hit your head pretty hard," Kali sadly informed. "Well, it was mainly the back of your head, but I just wanted to be safe."

"Kali . . ."

"I think it would be impossible to hit the front of your head. Unless you're hornless . . . I'm sorry . . . did you say something?"

Cosmo frowned at first as he looked into Kali's eyes, then he quickly shown a smile of appreciation, "Thanks."

Kali shrugged and continued in her low and caring voice, "Ignitus said you would be fine but I put the bandages on anyways. No reason to thank me, it's what I'm here for. I love you Cosmo."

Cosmo's heart sped up. He heard her say that plenty of times before, but it always seemed to get him excited somehow. "I love you too Kali . . ." He turned the other way and closed his eyes. The smile on his face quickly disappeared as soon as his thoughts began wandering. "_But what will happen in the end?_"

"You're not the only one with a bandage," Kali said, just to make conversation. "Ignitus forced Spyro to put his back on him. Of course, he tried to reason with Ignitus, saying he didn't want to show any signs of weakness or something, but he failed in the end."

The yellow dragon stayed motionless.

_Many Days Later_

Star's training was nearing it's completion. The only elements he had yet to master were gamma, convexity, and the void. He already knew how to combine elements, and he was beginning to change colors on his own now. Star had also mentioned that he had been having dreams lately. He continued to dream that he was in some sort of training grounds, but always fought against a dark being in it. Ignitus simply said that the guardians of the sky were sending him this dream to help train him for an actual battle. It was amazing on how fast time had passed.

Two weeks had come and gone. But with each passing day, the planet in the sky slowly grew larger and larger. At the moment, it was almost as big as the others in the sky. It made Cosmo sick in his stomach just by looking up at it.

Cosmo's head had healed a week ago so he was bandage free for the moment. Cynder's wound healed rather quickly, while Spyro's lagged behind. His was the worst one after all.

The dark being attacks would come and go. Most of them were convexity infected and without elements, but there was the occasional confrontation with a void infected troop. But with Spyro and Cynder spending most of their nights at the Hall, Star was more than safe. It wouldn't surprise Cosmo if Star could take on a dark being himself right now. That dragon had really matured the past two weeks, but still remained a bit hyperactive as he did before. If Cosmo had to guess, he looked as if he was ten to fifteen years of age at the moment.

At the moment, Cosmo was out on top the roof of the Elder Hall, watching Isis perform a series of tricks to pass the time. The temperature was a bit cool, but there were no clouds in the sky, nor was there snow on the ground. The breeze itself was nippy, but rarely made itself known. Perfect day to spend it outdoors.

The roof was flat, large, and made of a smooth, strong white marble. It was slightly slanted, so Cosmo was laying down with two paws underneath his head for support. It was also a good two stories high from the street below.

The yellow dragon found himself in thought. Ismeral Nexis must be getting worried by now. The dark beings he sends out always fail to murder Star, or any of the six for that matter. Pretty soon, he's going to try something drastic. What's more drastic than a full scale attack?

Ignitus explained to him about Ismeral's other forces as well. Humans. The fire guardian explained to him, as well as the others, on how an army of fanatics attacked their city, claiming that they were 'cleansing' the city for Ismeral Nexis's arrival. Most of them were defeated, but the rest are still out there. When the time comes, will they attack with the dark beings as well? Or will it be a mass breakout in the upcoming battle?

"Hey," a voice called out. Cosmo snapped to attention to see Isis taking her place next to him. She laid down on the roof and looked over toward the yellow dragon. "Is something wrong?"

"What makes you say that?" Cosmo defensively replied.

"Because you didn't see my amazing trick I just did."

"What trick?"

"Exactly."

"Well," sighed the yellow dragon. "I've had a lot to think about lately."

"Kali?" Isis guessed.

"That too," he simply replied.

Isis patiently waited for him to continue, but he never did. So she pushed the matter further. "Wanna tell me what's up?"

Cosmo was quiet for a few seconds before he finally answered. "Kali has been in love with me for quite a while now."

"And that's a bad thing?" Isis replied, closing her eyes in relaxation as she gave her wings a much needed rest. "Don't you love her back?"

The fur dragon could almost hear the regret in his voice when he replied. "Yes, I do."

"So what's the problem?"

Cosmo shook his head. "Isis . . . nevermind."

"Nevermind nothing," she quickly retorted. "What's wrong?"

"I can't."

"Cosmo."

". . ."

Isis studied the look on his face for a moment. She wasn't great with reading faces, but she guessed he was worried or troubled. "If you tell someone, you'll feel better."

Cosmo turned the other way, making Isis show a frown.

"Hey," the fur dragon began in a raised voice. "I'm just trying to help you out. I can't help you if I don't know what the problem is."

Cosmo was silent a good while as the cool breeze blew once more. Isis's fur danced as the wind moved around her as she waited for an answer. Finally, she got one.

"You want to know what the problem is?" Cosmo began in a low tone. He turned back over and looked at Isis's in the eyes. What she saw astounded her. Tears forming in his eyes. "Kali is carrying my child."

Isis grew more than surprised at the news. Her eyes grew large as she began to ponder on what to say. "Cosmo . . . what's so bad about that?"

Cosmo wiped his eyes then continued, regardless of how discouraged he was. "I was hoping to keep this a secret, but I can't keep it any longer. Isis . . . two weeks ago, I had a dream. In this dream, I was walking above the stars in a room of darkness. I've had this dream before, several times actually."

"Sounds familiar to me," Isis said. "Continue."

Cosmo was hesitant, but obeyed. "In my dream, I heard a voice. It told me one of the last things I ever wanted to hear."

"What was it?"

"It said that my time . . . our time . . . is nearing it's end. As soon as everything is peaceful in the dragon world, we won't be needed anymore."

"So what?" Isis interrupted. "So we won't be needed, who cares?"

"Don't you see Isis?" Cosmo began as he sat up his spot. He still looked at Isis, troubled with the news he was about to bring. "When that happens, we will no longer exist in this world."

"Wait . . . we?"

Cosmo slowly nodded with a saddened look, "Me, you, Yin, Myrianda, Blaze, and Clover. We're still humans Isis. And once we're done here, the ancient guardians are going to send us back to our realm."

Isis grew deathly silent.

Cosmo forcefully continued, "When that happens, Kali will have to raise a child without a father. Isis, I won't be able to see him and Kali will be crushed."

"It's not right," Isis replied, silent as ever.

The yellow dragon slowly laid back down on the marble roof below him and gazed up at the blue clear sky. He eyed then dark planet in disgust, then looked away. "It's impossible to avoid it Isis. If we don't do our jobs, then this planet is doomed. If we do our jobs, then we will disappear."

"Well . . . that couldn't suck any more. I love being a dragon and I've grown to this realm. I haven't even gotten into a relationship myself." Then Isis found herself growing embarrassed at what she said.

Luckily, Cosmo didn't even seem to hear it. "Just please, we can't tell the others, especially Kali. She'll be heartbroken and I don't want that."

Now Isis was the one feeling gloomy. She instantly felt regret for pushing Cosmo into telling her the truth. "You'll have to tell her sometime Cosmo." He voice was low and depressed. "And everyone else. They have a right to know."

"I know," Cosmo replied. "But I want to wait as long as possible. If we tell them now, it will just crush them. I just want them to be happy as long as possible."

Isis didn't respond.

_Later_

_9 P.M._

The night sky remained clear as Isis saw each and every twinkling star there was to see. Well, with the exception of the one's the dark planet was blocking. But she couldn't care less about the stars. Now that she knew her time in the dragon realm was growing short, her mind was elsewhere.

The fur dragon knocked on a door and patiently waited for the owner to answer. The breeze brought a much cooler sensation than earlier today, luckily Isis could barely feel it.

It actually took a minute, but the door handle finally turned and revealed a white dragoness behind it.

"Oh," the dragoness began. "My most sincere apologies Isis. I was reading a smashing tale in a book I recently bought. Do come on in."

Isis showed a weak smile as her friend shivered to the cool breeze that found it's way to her. "Thanks."

As soon as she was inside, the white dragoness shut the door. "So, anything interesting happen today?"

Isis made her way over toward the burning fireplace to get herself warm. She sat down on the couch in front of it as he friend took her place next to her. She noticed some tea on the chestnut table in front of her, but could tell it had been there for a little while. It was half-drunk and looked cool.

"Well . . . something did happen today," Isis began. The white dragoness could hear a hint of slump in her voice.

"Is something wrong?" asked the dragoness worriedly.

Isis slowly nodded. "I'm afraid so." She took a deep breathe, then continued in a low tone. "I've received some terrible news earlier today." She shook her head in disbelief. "I won't be here much longer."

"What?" the dragoness questioned. "What do you mean?"

"I won't lie to you," Isis began. "There are hard times ahead of us. I was sent here, along with five others, tell help defend this entire planet from a darkening fall. But . . . once my duty is done, I'll disappear, along with the other five."

"Disappear? Sacré bleu! But . . . I don't want you to. S'il vous plait, there has to be another way!"

"I'm sorry. The only way around it is to neglect our duties, but sacrifice the planet we're on. Which wouldn't make sense. We have to do this —." Isis nearly blurted her friend's name, but she had to stop herself from talking before she made her friend feel worse.

A few moments passed as the room was quiet. Uncomfortably, Isis shifted her gaze toward the fire, seeing it spark and crackle with life. Regardless, she still felt bad for her friend. Out of all the visits she had with her, Isis had never seen the white dragoness this gloomy. Really, there was nothing she could do to change her own fate. Eyeing, the fire once more, Isis sighed, realizing she should have waited to tell the white dragoness the news.

"Well then," the white dragoness began, "We'll just have to make the rest of your time here memorable."

Isis turned to look at her friend to see a smile on her face. She couldn't help but smile as well. "I couldn't agree more." She was quiet for a few moments, before she had an idea. "Say, I haven't told you of the fight I had at Garipton have I?"

The white dragoness shook her head, eager to hear the story.

_The Following Day_

_Elder Hall_

Star sat in the training grounds, alone with Clover, ready for the last few elements to be mastered. He nearly had gamma, he just needed to learn how to control it better, for his gamma spikes were a little inaccurate. But other than that, he was good in that element.

The green scaled guardian, Clover, sat in front of Star and watched him with a careful eye. At the moment, Star was bright orange with a dark orange belly. His wings seemed to look tangerine colored as well. Clover wondered if orange was Star's favorite color.

"Star," Clover began in a deepened voice. "The two elements, convexity and the void, are very dangerous elements and should not be used without caution, especially the void. Use these elements only as a last resort."

"Right," Star replied.

Star had matured a rapidly grew less childish over the past few days. Every since those battle practice dreams began, he became more stern and serious. But you would still occasional catch him trying something childish every once and a while. But really now, who doesn't?

"The first thing you should learn about convexity," Clover began. He looked down the target range and eyed the dummies at the end for a moment, then turned his attention back toward Star. "Is that it is infectious. Any one hit by this deadly elements will most likely be poisoned by its effects. Now do keep in mind that using convexity on a dark being will likely make him stronger, so I would not take the chance. Aiding you enemy is foolish."

Star almost looked confused for a moment. "So . . . if I can't use convexity against the enemy, why learn it?"

Clover raised an eye, "Well, I know you're worried about how much time we have left until the attack, but we shouldn't neglect on what has to be done. Who knows? I may be wrong."

"Alright, fine," sighed Star. "What's next?"

Clover rolled his eyes and continued his explanation, "Convexity can be used in three different forms. Bullets, beam, and energy. Bullets are small but very speedy projectiles. Nearly impossible to avoid if your shots are accurate. Beam takes a moment to charge, but when used, it releases a massive amount of energy, but more easily avoidable by enemies. I would only suggest using this form when there is either a lot of enemies, or you can catch your enemy off guard. Now energy is different. Energy is fired as a dark ball of convexity toward your target. No matter where the target moves, the energy ball follows. But it's slow moving, making this method require more patience."

Star nodded in understanding. "What about the void?"

"The void," Clover began, "Can only be used in one form. A vacuum. When used, this element rips through the fabric of reality itself, tearing a hole on the battleground. Anyone unfortunate enough to get close are sucked in the hole and are never seen again."

"Where do they go?" Star asked in curiosity.

Clover shrugged. "Not sure. Could be space, or even a different realm or dimension. Who knows?" The green dragon then grew more serious. "Any questions before we begin?"

"Yeah," Star replied. "I have one."

"What is it?"

Star grinned, "Is it time to go yet?"

Clover rolled his eyes once more. "Come on," he encouraged. "The sooner you learn, the sooner we'll be done."

_Meanwhile_

Cynder made sure to keep a close eye on Spyro. She didn't want him wandering into the training grounds at the moment. The purple dragon wasn't mad that he was being watched, just annoyed that they were being over-protective of him. He knew better than to bother Clover and Star while they were training anyways.

That black dragoness seemed like she was keeping a secret from him. Every now and again, Spyro would see Cynder and Kali speaking to each other, but would cease when they saw Spyro. They were definitely talking about something . . . but what could it be? He tried bringing it up to Cynder but she would always find a way to brush it off with a grin. If she wouldn't talk, maybe Kali would?

Spyro decided to seek Kali out, seeing that he had nothing to do at the moment. Last he heard of her, she went home to get something to eat. Maybe that blue dragoness would be more open to him that Cynder. He was tired of being left in the dark.

"I'm going out Cynder," Spyro said as he peered into Shivertail's office. He saw Shivertail himself, sitting behind his desk, looking over some documents, while Cynder watched the streets through the window behind him. The two black dragons looked at him for a moment before Cynder answered. "Want me to tag along?"

The purple dragon cringed. "No, that's alright, I won't be long anyways."

Spyro quickly left before she could answer back. He didn't want to leave her by herself, but he was determined to find out what her and Kali were gossiping about. Truthfully, he really wouldn't have cared, but something about this particular gossip interested him.

As soon as he exited the Hall, he shifted his eyes toward the sky. It was actually a little cloudy at the moment. It wouldn't be surprising if the purple dragon saw rain later in the day. Snow was a longshot, considering it wasn't cold enough for it. Sure the air was a little crisp and the cool breeze made it even worse, but the fact still stood.

"Hey Spyro!" exclaimed a voice from above.

Right after he heard the greeting, the purple dragon noticed a black fur dragon flying over him. He also noticed a yellow tail dangling off the edge of the roof of the Elder Hall. Spyro couldn't help but spread his wings and fly up there to see who it was. As he hovered above the rooftop, he noticed the yellow dragon was laid back on the rooftop with his two front paws under his head for support. He had his eyes shut, until he sensed Spyro's presence.

"Oh," the yellow dragon began. "You startled me, Spyro."

"Cosmo," the purple dragon simply greeted. "You mind if I sit with you?"

Cosmo shrugged, "I don't see why not."

Spyro obliged and landed beside the yellow dragon. He sat down and looked Cosmo over. "What are you doing up here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Relaxing," Cosmo answered in a lowered tone. "And watching Isis."

"Isis?" Spyro looked up and saw the fur dragon perform a somersault. Afterwards, she performed a few quick barrel rolls, followed by an even quicker somersault than before.

"She's a daredevil," the yellow dragon explained in an amused tone. "Very entertaining to watch."

Spyro watched her for a few minutes, just to pass the time. He saw her perform more somersaults and rolls, along with dive-bombs and fast flying. She also flew upside-down a good while before she began performing some more tricks. Cosmo was right, this was entertaining.

"Well," Spyro began, picking up Cosmo's attention. "It's almost time for . . . you know." He looked back up in the sky and saw the dark planet size. It was a little bit bigger than yesterday, though it wasn't very noticeable.

It took a few seconds for Cosmo to realize what he was referring to. "Oh . . . yeah."

Spyro could tell that his mood seemed to have changed to a more depressed level. "Is something wrong?"

Cosmo waited a few moments to answer, just so he wouldn't sound desperate. "It's nothing. Just the situation we're in."

Spyro continued, "Star's training is nearly complete. But even when it is . . . I won't know what to do." An uncomfortable moment passed before he continued. "I mean, how do we stop a planet?"

Cosmo went into thought for a good while. That was a good question indeed. Stopping a planet seemed to be impossible. "_How often does a planet form out of thin air, then is set for a collision course for the one that inhabits life such as this?Hmm . . . wait a second. This dark planet came from somewhere. Maybe Ismeral Nexis made it with his magic? And if he did, then that means he is the source of the planets very existence._"

The yellow dragon looked over at Spyro to see he was watching Isis with wonder in his eye. Cosmo could tell he was thinking about the this as well.

"_The dark beings are coming from somewhere. From what I remember, the dark beings kidnap citizens, so they obviously bring them somewhere. But where?_"

"Maybe Ignitus will know what to do," Spyro finally said.

"Perhaps," Cosmo replied. "I hope so."

Cosmo's train of thought was broken as he watched Isis. She must have been getting at least a little tired by now. He could tell just at how much slower she was flying, but yet, she still remained in the skies.

"So, where's Kali?" Spyro politely asked.

Cosmo looked at Spyro questionably, but nevertheless, he answered, "She went to the market square to grab something to eat."

"Alright," Spyro responded. "I guess I'll get going now. I'll see you later."

"See ya," Cosmo waved.

The purple dragon stood back to his feet. He looked up at Isis one last time before he stepped off the ledge with his orange wings spread. As soon as he was in the air, he flapped his wings and headed straight for the market square.

The black fur dragon finally decided to take a rest. Cosmo watched her as she landed beside him, nearly out of breathe.

"You should take it easy Isis," Cosmo suggested, shutting his eyes.

"I'm enjoying . . . what I can Cosmo," Isis replied between pants.

Cosmo grew a quick frown as he was, once again, reminded of their future. "Don't remind me."


	60. Dark Diurnality

Chapter 60

Dark Diurnality

Screaming. Torment. Suffering. Cries of pain.

It was worse than the war he was in while he was human. The gunfire, planes, and explosions always seemed to drown out the bellows for help. But here . . . it was different. The yellow reptile didn't think those terrible cries would bother him, considering how much he had been through in the past. He couldn't have been more wrong. This was just horrifying for any poor soul unlucky enough to be here during this terrible time.

It was nearly noon, yet, it was dark and gloomy. The black planet had grown to gigantic size, covering the sun and spreading a shade of darkness across the city. To make things worse, the city was under attack. The battle had already begun, regardless of whether he was ready for it or not.

_Yesterday_

_Elder Hall_

Shivertail already had plenty of work to do. So why was there a mob of different sized dragons in his office? He could hardly hear himself think as he sat behind the safety of his desk, attempting to collect his thoughts on what was going on.

"We demand an explanation!" announced a gray scaled citizen as he slammed his two front paws on the front of the desk. Shivertail figured he was speaking for everyone, considering that the office got quiet. "That planet is getting bigger Shivertail! We can't ignore that!"

The black scaled leader sighed. "I am aware of it." He was more calm and collected than the rowdy citizens. "But there is nothing we can do at the moment," Shivertail regretfully informed.

"There has to be something!" a female in the back suggested. "Anything!"

Shivertail shook his head. "I'm sorry."

The gray dragon from before clenched his teeth. "You better do something," he threatened. "Otherwise, we're going to take matters into our own paws!"

The group of dragons erupted in cheer, agreeing with the gray dragon. Shivertail swallowed nervously as he saw there was nothing else he could do.

Shivertail quickly stood to his feet and raised his voice. "You want the truth! Fine!" He took a deep breathe as the mob calmed down, eager to hear him out. So Shivertail continued, but in a more civil tone. "Our homes are being threatened by a human wizard named Ismeral Nexis. He's the one who created the dark planet in the first place."

Murmurs were heard throughout the office as Shivertail continued. "All the disappearances in the city? They were no mere accidents. Dark, corrupted dragons, or dark beings, kidnapped them to turn them into Ismeral Nexis's own troops."

"Dark beings?" the gray dragon began, a hint of surprise in his voice. "You're lying."

Shivertail shook his head. "I speak the truth. Soon, an army of dark beings will invade the city, hoping to wipe us out in one final attack."

The gray dragon grinded his teeth together in anger. "How long have you known this?"

There was no point in lying now. Soon, everyone in the city would know about this.

"Months," Shivertail calmly answered. "Ever since the kidnappings first began."

The gray dragon slammed his paw onto the desk in anger. "You knew about this the whole time! Why didn't you tell us!"

Shivertail looked down toward the documents on his desk. He didn't have anything to say, so he stayed quiet.

"We could have saved our loved ones!" the gray dragon continued in a rant. "You screwed up Shivertail, and now . . . you're going to pay for it."

Without warning, the gray dragon leaped over the desk and tackled Shivertail down to the floor. The gray dragon must have weighed a lot. Shivertail could feel his breathe leave his lungs as he felt hundreds of pounds of pressure on his chest. The gray reptile was also bigger than Shivertail thought he was. He even seemed to be larger than Shivertail himself.

"Think about what you're doing," Shivertail managed, then began to cough from the recent blow he took.

"I know what I'm doing!" the gray dragon exclaimed.

Shivertail heard the mob cheering the gray dragon on as he reared his claws back.

"You are going to pay for all the mistakes you made," the gray reptile stated simply. Then Shivertail watched has his claws lunged forward.

_Present Time_

As soon as that incident with Shivertail happened, Cosmo should have told everyone the truth. He told Isis to never speak of it to anyone, but now he was beginning to regret it. The others had a right to know. Especially Kali.

"Everything alright Cosmo?" asked a sweet sounding voice.

Cosmo made a simple nod. "Yeah Kali. Well, considering the circumstances, I could be better."

"Are you worried?"

Cosmo didn't hesitate to answer. "Yes. In more ways than you can imagine."

Kali looked beside her into her partners eyes. It was more than easy to tell he wasn't being dishonest. However, it wasn't easy to see that look on his face.

Cosmo felt Kali's wing wrap around him, giving him the most comfort he would ever need. Then she nuzzled him.

"It's going to be okay Cosmo. We'll get through this."

For a moment, the screams stopped. Cosmo felt a wave of happiness rush over him as Kali gave it her all to soothe and calm him down.

A few moments passed, until Cosmo felt his confidence return to him. He looked into Kali's dark blue eyes for a moment, until he pushed himself forward, unable to keep his feelings bottled up. Kali entered a state of bliss as Cosmo pushed his lips onto hers. It wasn't common for him to make the move. Still, she didn't enjoy it any less.

It only lasted for a few short seconds until Cosmo had to pull himself away. He didn't want to, but he had no choice. It seemed that several dark beings were approaching their location.

Cosmo sighed, "I think it's time we get off this clock tower," he regretfully said.

Kali smiled as she looked around herself. The two of them sat on top of the tallest clock tower, overlooking to city of Warfang. Unfortunately, it wasn't much a view at the time. The darkness made it easy to spot many fires throughout the city. The screams weren't helping with the view either.

"I hope Star is alright," Kali lowly said, still keeping an eye on the dark beings down on the street below them. They didn't even seem to notice the two dragons on top the clock tower.

"We should just slip by—," Cosmo began, but was interrupted by a cry for help below. "Or not."

Kali quickly stood to her feet and peered over the ledge. "I see someone! There's a survivor down there!"

Cosmo jumped to his feet as well, "We should save him! Come on!"

The yellow reptile leaped off the top of the clock tower, just as it struck noon. As Cosmo fell, the clock tower's massive internal bell began to sound off, drowning out all sounds of death in the air. The reptile saw the ground beginning to get closer, so he opened his wings to slow his descent into a glide. With the clocks bell still going off, the dark beings were completely oblivious to the two dragons stalking them. Cosmo counted four of them so it shouldn't be too bad.

With the survivor running past the clock tower, Cosmo dropped down on top the dark being in the back. The clocks bell muffled the noise as Cosmo launched an ice spike through the back of the dragon's skull, killing him instantly.

Kali dropped down on the next dark being like an expert assassin. Before the dark dragon even knew what was going on, his throat was cut open by the blue dragoness' claws, right before the clock tower struck the bell one last time.

Cosmo looked ahead and began his run to catch up with the survivor. With the bell no longer keeping their sound muted, he was going to have to be quick and vigilant with the last two. He looked beside him to see Kali had caught up to him, then read her mind as she showed him a swaggering smile.

Kali used her shadow element and vanished into thin air, turning completely invisible. Cosmo caught up with the dark beings, who were completely unaware of their presence, ready to take them down. Hoping Kali was ready, he silently counted a few seconds, then pounced.

Cosmo landed on the dark beings back with his claws digging into the creature's scales. It hissed, attempting to throw Cosmo off himself. The yellow dragon kept his claws dug in, then attacked with his flames into the back of the dark being's head. Blistering fire smothered the dark being as he wildly swung his claws in any way he could, despite being pinned to the ground. The frantic movements managed to kick Cosmo off the dark being, making the yellow dragon forcefully land on his back behind the creature.

The dark being staggered as he stood to his paws in a dizzy way. By the time he turned around, Cosmo was already up and ready. The black dragon growled, then charged for him. Cosmo grinned, then shot a line of electricity straight into the dark being's skull. The enemy stopped in his tracks as the jolts flowed through his body. The yellow dragon didn't dare to give him an inch until, moments later, he simply fell to the ground lifeless.

Satisfied, Cosmo looked around for Kali, to find her approaching the light blue dragon he saw earlier. He smiled when he saw the last remaining dark being on the ground motionless. So he passed by the body and continued down the street to meet up with the survivor.

"Are you alright?" Kali softly asked, checking the dragon for any injuries.

"Yes," the survivor answered, sounding a bit relieved. The dragon was also actually a she, and she was twice as small as Cosmo and Kali. She looked like she was just a toddler.

Cosmo slowly approached them and took his place beside Kali, also relieved to see the dragoness was okay. "You don't look like you should be here. We should find you a place to hide." Despite the sounds of agony in the air, the small toddler didn't look as terrified as Cosmo would thought she would. "What's your name?"

The toddler was quiet for a moment. She carefully looked at Cosmo and Kali a few seconds, then finally answered. "I'm . . . Cerulean. But my nickname is Ceri."

"_Cerulean suits her I suppose._" Cosmo thought. Then he showed a friendly smile and said in the most comforting tone he could muster. "Well Ceri, what are you doing here by yourself?"

Ceri looked down toward the stone below. "I . . . don't want to talk about it. My mom told me to run before it was too late. So I did." Her voice sounded almost dead and dreadful at this point.

Cosmo looked over at Kali, already able to tell what had happened. The blue dragoness spoke up in suggestion, "We can't leave her here Cosmo."

"I know," he stated simply. He looked back down at Ceri to see tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "Where was your mother?"

Ceri sniffed. Her voice was trembling as she answered. "We were at the hospital . . . visiting my dad."

Cosmo's eyes grew wide. "The hospital? But isn't that where . . . oh no."

"What is it?" Kali immediately asked, worried about his reaction.

"Torch is in the hospital," Cosmo began in an upset tone. "We have to get there before it's too late!"

_Several Days Earlier_

_Kali's Home_

Kali had just finished eating a delicious lunch when she heard a knock on her door. From her kitchen, she paced herself through the doorway and into the living room. Curious to know who was on the other side, Kali turned the knob and opened the door, revealing a purple dragon the same size as her. Out of all the dragons she knew, he was one of the last one's she was expecting.

"Spyro?" she began, wondering what he was doing here. She peeked out the door to see if anyone else was accompanying him, but saw no one. "Need something?"

The purple dragon looked a bit uneasy. Regardless, he still solidly answered, "Sort of."

Unusual. Kali stepped aside and offered him inside. The purple dragon took a moment to decide what he was going to do, so he felt obligated to take her up on the offer.

"Is something wrong?" Kali assumed, closing the door behind Spyro.

"No," the purple dragon began. "Nothing like that. I've just been . . . wondering . . . something."

The blue dragoness tilted her head in marvel. "Something?"

"Well," Spyro calmly went, attempting to put together a sentence that didn't sound like he was being snoopy. "Cynder's been acting a little different lately."

"Different? How?"

Spyro was taken aback by that question. So he quickly came up with an answer. "She's been . . . erm . . . distant."

It was then that Kali realized what Spyro was trying to do. She smiled, but played dumb as she continued. "So how can I help?"

Spyro felt a little relieved at this point. "I seen you two talking and I was wondering if she told you anything."

"About?"

"Well . . . anything that has recently happened maybe."

Kali still kept her smile. "Spyro, I know what you're trying to do."

The purple dragon frowned, "What do you mean?"

The blue dragoness continued. "What Cynder told me is completely confidential. I promised her I would keep quiet about it."

"You're kidding?" was all Spyro managed to say.

"Cynder will tell you everything soon, and just a heads up, she knows that you would start asking sooner or later."

Spyro almost looked dumbfounded by now. "She . . . she did?"

Kali nodded, enjoying the moment. "Yep, she talks to me when you're around on purpose you know. Just to make you wonder."

"Agh!" Spyro went, putting a paw on top of his head. "She's going to drive me insane!"

Kali laughed a moment, glad to witness this moment.

_Present Time_

"Get out of my bar!" Myrianda exclaimed, throwing a wooden stool over the counter she hid behind.

"Actually," a brown scaled dragon began. "It's my bar. Get your facts straight."

"Hey!" Yin called out from beside them. "We got bigger problems. Get it together!

The three dragons were taking cover behind the bar as several dark beings were waiting for them to pop their heads up. There were a few body's on the ground, both from citizens and the dark beings. Many tables and chairs were tipped over, due to Myrianda's recent rage. They were the only one's left.

Myrianda peeked over the ledge to count seven dark beings, only to have an ice spike whoosh past her head. She ducked back down with annoyance. "I can safely say that I put enough gems into this bar to make it partly mine!"

The bar owner rolled his eyes. "We can argue about this later! Right now we have to get out of here. How many of them are there?"

The brown scaled dragon was slightly larger than the other two, therefore it made it a little bit tougher for him to hide. He scratched his pale belly and stretched his dark green wings out as he waited for a response.

"Seven," Myrianda answered. "Not counting the one's waiting outside."

"You're just messin' with us right?" Yin stammered in a disbelief.

Myrianda shook her head. "I wish, unless I'm seeing doubles again."

The bar owner deeply sighed in aggravation. "We can't fight all of them."

"Why can't we?" Myrianda asked as a fireball flew over the counter. The trio covered their heads as it exploded against the back wall. Luckily, it was just far enough for it not to hurt them. But it did blow a nasty chunk out the wall.

"Look," the brown scaled dragon began. "I can deal with bar fights, but this? This is crazy, and a fight with this many who are using elements? It'll level my bar and possibly us along with it!"

Another fireball came without warning. This time, it was closer to Yin when it collided against the back wall. It lit up the dark room as he white dragoness felt the explosion rumble her insides as it tore away another part off on the wall.

"Stop hiding!" A dark being hissed. "You've got to come out sometime."

"Can we please come up with a plan?" Yin exclaimed. She felt around her body to make sure everything was still intact and in one piece.

The bar owner looked below him, he stood to his feet but kept low. "Someone help me move this carpet out the way." His voice was lower, making sure none of the dark beings knew what he was up to.

Yin stuck her head out over the counter and launched a fireball herself before the dark beings could attack. The fireball collided against the closest black dragon, sending him flying a few feet back before a wave of flames rushed toward her. The white dragoness threw her head back down and felt the heat as the flames passed inches above her head.

She looked over to see Myrianda and the bar owner dragging a piece of the red thick carpet out of the way. It revealed a small wooden hatch on the stony ground. It had a circular metal handle on top of it so it would be easier to open.

Then Yin grew more afraid than before. "Please tell me that leads to a large room."

"Tunnels," the bar owner replied, getting a grip on the handle. He pulled it up and the whole hatched came loose, almost like a manhole cover. "Now let's get going."

It was a tight fit, but the bar owner managed to get inside. Myrianda looked down the hatch to see it was small drop, but there was evidently some footing down there. It was just hard to tell, due to the darkness. She eyed the bar one last time, shook her head in disappointment, then dropped down.

Yin slowly crawled over to the hatch, swallowed a lump in her throat, then jumped down as well.

"Cover the hole," the bar owner quietly said.

Yin looked back up into the dimly lit bar and peeked back up through it the best she could. Several fireballs flew over the counter and exploded on the back wall, making Yin squint as the light they emitted caught her eyes. She snagged the red carpet that covered the hole, then dragged it back over the hole where it was before. Yin dropped back down into the tunnels to see that it was now pitch black darkness.

"Where did I put that . . . ah," the brown scaled dragon went. Yin watched a fire exit from the dragon's mouth and light a torch in his paw.

Myrianda looked a bit surprised. "Where did you get that?"

The bar owner grinned. "I planned ahead, so I stored a few torches down here, just in case. See for yourself."

He lowered the torch toward the dirt ground below to show them a small pile of unlit torches were wrapped up in a small blanket, mainly to keep dirt off the torches so it would burn easier.

But Yin didn't care about that. The tunnels were small. Too small for her liking. The rocky ceiling was only a few feet high and the width of the tunnel was just big enough for them to turn around in.

"You okay Yin?" Myrianda asked, concerned for her. "You look like you got cold feet . . . err paws."

"I hate small spaces," Yin lowly replied.

Myrianda looked at the brown dragon a moment before turning back to Yin. "Umm . . . Yin, it's going to be alright. You'll get through this."

Yin shook her head. "Myrianda, you're terrible when it comes to comforting others."

"But I get credit for trying right?"

Yin sat for a moment, keeping an eye on the walls. "Sure, whatever. Let's just get out of here as fast as we can."

"You know," the bar owner began. "For someone who's afraid of small spaces, you sure are keeping your cool rather well."

Yin said nothing in return. She was doing her best to keep her mind off the current situation, but it wasn't working out so well.

_Meanwhile_

_Hospital_

It was a mess. As soon as Cosmo, Kali, and Cerulean entered the building, their eyes met with the worst. Chairs were broken, shards of wood was burning on the ground, and bodies littered the floor. Yet, not one of them looked like a dark being.

"They may have been dead a while," Kali said, trying not to inhale the smell of decay. She sighed in a stressed tone.

Cosmo remembered on how a dark being would revert colors if they were dead for a while. "Let's check for any survivors." He couldn't tell if these were bodies of dark beings, or citizens.

Cerulean was quiet, scared, and uncomfortable of where she was. On the outside, she was a showing a brave face, but on the inside, she was heartbroken and trembling.

"Ceri?" Kali began, looking down at the small dragon in worry. "Are you okay? Do you want to leave?"

The small dragon swallowed. "I'm fine. R-really. I just want to find my mom and dad."

Kali looked back at Cosmo with a troubled look on her face. They couldn't leave her here by herself, and Cosmo needed all the help he could get. The yellow dragon looked down the dark hall ahead then said in a lowered voice, "There's no telling if there any dark beings here or not, so we better be cautious and quiet."

The trio made their way throughout the rubble, taking care not to step on any shards of wood that looked lethal. Cerulean hugged Kali, staying as close as possible to her, when they found themselves walking down the blackened hallway. Cosmo nudged Kali and urged her to stay close. She complied, knowing that the only way for them to see clearly was through Cosmo's eyes.

The yellow dragon closed his eyes for a moment, then reopened them to see the colorless sight. Using his night vision ability, he carefully navigated his way down the hall, peering into each room as they passed by. From rooms 101 to 107, it looked pretty clean as if they weren't even bothered. But after that, the rooms grew progressively worse. Room 108 held a dead body with many items knocked down off the shelves around him. Room 109 contained a damaged bed, burning pieces of wood, and two bodies. When they got to room 110, Cosmo forced himself to look away. A smell of burned scales invaded his nostrils as he looked at several bodies on the ground. It wasn't that big of a room, but it held six bodies.

Suddenly, there was the sound of an explosion. Cosmo snapped his attention forward, but didn't see the source. All he saw was that the hallway turned around a corner up ahead. Whatever it was, it was deeper into the hospital halls.

"What was that?" Cerulean asked, clinging to Kali.

Kali lowered her wing around the frightened little dragon. She quietly looked down the hall, unable to hardly see a thing.

"It came from down the hall," Cosmo quietly replied. He took a deep breathe to calm himself, then continued. "It could be survivors."

Kali silently agreed, then looked down toward Cerulean. "Are you okay, Ceri?"

The small dragon had her head dug into Kali's side. She looked up at the blue dragoness, then bravely nodded.

Cosmo looked down at the small dragon worriedly. He really wasn't sure about this, especially since someone like Cerulean was with him.

"Kali," Cosmo began.

"Yeah?" she simply went.

The yellow dragon looked back at the blue dragoness, "I want you to take Ceri back outside."

Cerulean was about to object until Kali cut her off. "But Cosmo—"

"It's too dangerous," Cosmo explained. "I don't want Ceri to get hurt because of my curiosity."

Cerulean stepped away from Kali and closer to the yellow dragon. She had a raised voice as if she didn't want to leave. "But what about my mom and dad?"

"I'll find them," Cosmo answered. "I promise I'll get them out of here. But I want you out of harms way. I can't let you get hurt because of me."

Cerulean looked down, disappointment on her face. She wiped her eyes and simply replied in a dull voice, "Okay."

Kali watched the small toddler slowly approach her. The blue dragoness looked down at her, feeling her pain. She knew what it was like to have family in trouble. But she understood why Cosmo wanted this. "You better come back soon."

Cosmo watched as she turned herself around and wrapped a comforting wing around Ceri. The entrance of the hospital was easy to see, so she shouldn't have any trouble getting out. Cosmo turned back around and slowly began his walk.

He made sure to peer into every room, making sure they were empty. All he saw in them were bodies. With each step, thing were beginning to look more bleak than what they already were.

Then Cosmo heard it. Another explosion. This time, it was a bit louder. There had to be survivors here, and if there were, they needed all the help they could get.

Wasting no time, Cosmo picked up the pace, deciding to check the rest of the rooms later. There was something going on around the corner, and he was determined to find out what it was. Something was causing those explosions. He hoped it wasn't dark beings, but he highly doubted it wasn't.

As soon as Cosmo turned the corner, a nearby door busted open and a dark being charged toward him. With no time to react, Cosmo was hit on his side by the dragon's horns, knocking him down to his side. Before he could do anything, Cosmo found himself pinned to the ground by the dark being. The yellow dragon looked up threw a paw up over his face as the dark being lunged his snarling teeth toward his neck. Cosmo pushed with all his strength, but the dark being wasn't planning on going anywhere until he was dead. He had no other choice at the moment, so Cosmo used his strength ability, pushing more energy into himself. Then the dragon felt no heavier than a paperweight. Cosmo worked his paw towards the dark beings neck, then grabbed it. The dark being's snarling ceased as he felt himself being lifted into the air by one paw. Before he started kicking, Cosmo threw him into the wall as hard as he could. The black dragon collided against the wall with enough force to kill him almost instantly, as well as leave an indent of where he hit. Cosmo stood to his feet and looked the dark being over, making sure he was dead. Satisfied, he continued down the hall.

"Look out!" cried a familiar voice. Not long after that, another explosion erupted down the hall, lighting up a room on the right side up ahead.

"_Definitely survivors_," Cosmo assured himself.

He rushed down the hall, passing by a few empty rooms, until he was able to see what was going on. When he looked into the room, he found himself speechless at what he was seeing.

_Meanwhile_

Frederick unsheathed his claymore as he saw several dark beings approach him from a distance down the street. He was also equipped with a small knife, just in case his claymore wasn't the right tool for the job. He wore a light metal armor along with silver leggings for extra protection. The swordsman gripped his weapon tightly as more swords were unsheathed behind him, readying themselves for the upcoming battle. Eleven lone humans stood alone on an empty street, knowing this day would come. Their countless hours of training and exercising over the past was about to be put to the ultimate test. Frederick was worried, but wore a bold face of courage.

"Men!" Aruto announced, taking notice of the approaching mob of dragons down the street. He took his place near the front as he observed the scene up ahead. "The approaching battle is going to be harsh, but that is what we are here for. Keep your guard up and watch each other's backs. We will defend this city!" Aruto unsheathed his longsword and raised a steel shield, decorated with the head of a lion. "For Warfang!"

The other eleven humans raised their weapons high, whether it be maces, warhammers, or swords. "For Warfang!" They erupted.

The dark beings were a lot closer than before. Aruto turned and spotted Rita standing off to the side, her bow in hand. She was still equipped with a shortsword, of course. 

"Rita, how about you put your shooting skills to good use. See if you can climb one of these buildings. That should give you the altitude and safety you need," ordered Aruto.

Rita made a simple nod, then took off into a nearby alleyway. The gray bearded man then turned back toward the scene up ahead. The dark beings were almost on top of them, and there were plenty of them.

"No matter what happens, it ends today."

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo couldn't believe his eyes. There, standing up near the back up of the room, was a red dragon with an orange belly. A pink dragoness stood next to him, as well as a black fur dragon and pure white dragoness.

But that wasn't all. A dark being stood in between Cosmo and the friendly group of dragons.

"Hey!" Cosmo called out.

The dark being turned in annoyance, but was jumped, but not by him. The red dragon landed on the black dragon's back as he squirmed and kicked to get free. Flames rushed out of the red dragon's mouth as they collided against the back of the dragon's head, weakening him so he would be more still. Not long after that, the red dragon slipped his claws underneath the dark being's neck, then spilled his blood all over the floor. The dark dragon fell to the floor, then the red dragon stood to his feet in relief.

"Cosmo!" Isis jubilantly greeted. She was the first to approach him, but did something that Cosmo wasn't expecting.

The yellow reptile felt two furry limbs wrap around his neck. A hug? Cosmo never thought Isis would do such a thing. Nevertheless, he didn't want to leave her hanging, so he gently hugged her back. It only lasted for a couple second before Isis pushed away.

"Glad to see you too," Cosmo said in relief. Then he set his eyes on the red dragon.

He smiled at the yellow dragon, "It's been a while Cosmo."

The yellow dragon was seeing it, but it took a while to actually register. Finally, after a few seconds, Cosmo finally uttered, "Torch?"

He nodded, "That's me. Good as new. Well, sort of at least."

Cosmo looked him over, "How did you get better?"

"Long story," chuckled Torch. "But I can just say that Micha helped me out of it."

Torch looked back at the pink dragoness for a moment, showing silent appreciation for all the trouble he put her through.

"I hate to interrupt," Isis began. "But shouldn't we get out of here?"

"I am in agreement of that plan," a white dragoness behind Isis added. "It is much too dark in here for my tastes."

The accent of her voice threw Cosmo off. He wasn't expecting her to sound like that. "You must be Isis's friend. Your accent is quite different from what I'm used to hearing these days."

"Then I suppose you have never been to Clawstone?"

Cosmo shook his head, "Only heard that word from Isis."

Micha stepped forward, urging everyone else to do the same. "Come on, you can talk as we walk. I've been in this place far too long."

"We can't leave yet," Cosmo interrupted.

"Why?" the pink dragoness asked, beginning to walk toward the door.

Cosmo looked at everyone else and could tell they were wondering the same. "I came in here for another reason. I'm looking for two other dragons as well."

"Who?" Isis asked. "Yin and Myrianda?"

The yellow dragon shook his head. "Parents of a small child. Kali's out there with her."

Isis's white scaled friend looked toward the fur dragon with a worried look. She turned back toward Cosmo and lowly asked, "What is the child's name?"

"Cerulean," Cosmo simply answered, worry in his voice.

"Oh no," the white dragoness mumbled. "The poor dear."

Cosmo heart sank when he heard her response. "What do you mean?"

The white dragoness continued. "I . . . somewhat knew her parents. They were a nice bunch and didn't deserve the fate they met." She inhaled, seeing the drained look on the yellow dragon's face. "When the dark beings invaded the hospital, I saw Cerulean run through the doors. It was then that her mother dashed back toward her husband's room. Luckily, Isis was already in the hospital, so I requested her to accompany me to save Cerulean's mother. I'm not much of a fighter, so I was thankful that Isis was with me. But when we got to the room, it was already too late."

Saddened by the news, Cosmo turned back toward the door. "We should probably leave before more dark beings arrive," he dully suggested_._ "_I made a promise. A promise that's impossible to keep._"

_Meanwhile_

Frederick performed a quick back-step, avoiding the claws of a desperate dark dragon. With one hand, he thrusted his claymore forward, stabbing the dark being straight through his head, killing him. Frederick pulled his sword back out and put his second hand on it's hilt as another dark dragon took its place. The human didn't know how much longer they could hold out. No matter how many they slay, more would take their places.

An arrow whizzed by Frederick and hit the dark being in front of him near his neck in the side. Regardless of the new injury he sustained, the dragon still jumped the human, attempting to kill him. Frederick swung his claymore, slicing the black dragon in his side near the arrow wound, and knocked him down to the ground. While he had the chance, Frederick raised his weapon and impaled the dragon without second thoughts. He pulled his claymore back out to see his silver weapon decorated with blood on the blade.

The human turned toward his comrades to see Aruto was getting ganged up on. He intended on helping him, but found it was going to be difficult as another dragon jumped him. Frederick duck and rolled out the way, then made a mad dash for Aruto with his weapons raised. As soon as he was close enough, he swung his sword downwards on the closest dragon, slicing his back open. When he fell, Frederick sliced him again, this time from left to right, making sure he was dead.

"I appreciate the help lad!" Aruto exclaimed. "But you should worry about yourself!"

Frederick turned to see two more dark beings approaching him. The human raised his claymore once again, then dashed toward them. He had to be quick and vigilant against these enemies, and most of all, show no signs that you were going to back down.

As soon as he was close enough, Frederick swung his sword from right to left, sweeping the area in front of him. He managed to slice one dark being across his face, but the other jumped over his sweep and toward the human. Frederick felt the dark being collide against his chest, knocking him down to the stone below and dropping his weapon in the process. The swordsman felt the air escape his lungs as he collided against the ground, but a bigger problem was snarling in his face.

Frederick quickly felt around on his left side and found what he was looking for. His knife. He quickly snagged it and stabbed the dragon in the side of his head. The dragon roared in the humans face as he stabbed him several more times, blood spraying and dripping on the human below. Soon enough, he was dead.

The swordsman pushed the dead body off himself and stood to his feet as he switched hands with the knife. He saw his claymore laying on the ground a few feet away, but another dark being was in his way. Frederick quickly jumped him before the black dragon could attack. Now the human was the one in the dominant position. Frederick reared his right hand back, then speedily stabbed the dragon like a mad serial killer. The dragon swung his claws wildly as the human stabbed him, but only managed to scratch his side once.

The human stood back to his feet and looked at his side. Luckily, his metal armor protected him. He saw three new scratch marks on his armor as he retrieved his claymore while he could. He put his bloodied knife away and saw the dark being's numbers had finally begun to lessen. But he saw a bigger problem approaching. Up in the sky, a large black dragon flapped his wings. Looking down onto the humans below, he began to dive toward them.

"We got a big problem above us!" Frederick warned in the loudest voice he could muster.

However, everyone else seemed to be too busy with the remainder of the dark beings at the moment. But it seemed he got the attention of one of them with his shouting. A black dragon charged toward the human with his horns lowered, planning to skewer Frederick in the gut. The swordsman waited for the right moment, then sidestepped and swung his claymore horizontally. Frederick felt his sword dig into the dragon's side, cutting him open. There was no doubt that he was dead.

As soon as that problem was out of the way, Frederick felt the ground rumble underneath his feet. The swordsman regained his balance easily, then looked behind him to see a larger dark being separating him and his colleagues. This dragon must have been six times bigger than the dark beings he was just fighting. Not only that, this dragon was flying. And if he can fly . . .

Frederick dove down to the ground and covered his head as a wave of flames headed toward his direction. He felt his armor get hot as it absorbed most of the heat from the flames as they passed by over his head. His heart sped up as he silently thanks his armor. He might have been toast if it wasn't there.

Standing back to his feet, Frederick saw a grin in the dragon's face. Cockiness. Just what Frederick needed.

The human stepped forward, then began a sprint toward the void infected dragon. The reptile launched a fireball in front of the human, making Frederick change course and leaping forward into a roll as it exploded behind him. The dragon growled as he stepped forward, then swung his paw as big as Frederick himself toward the human. The swordsman swung his claymore, slicing the dragon's paw as it swung by, angering the dark dragon even more. Frederick kept a close eye on the dragon, then was forced to evade as the same paw came down from above, attempting to crush him into the stone. Frederick stood back to his feet and rushed forward while he had the chance with his weapon raised. As soon as he could, Frederick swung his claymore into the dragons leg. The black dragon fell a little as he felt steel enter his foreleg. The human heard the dragon growl, as he pulled his sword out the dragon's limb. Before the black dragon could regain his composure, Frederick swung his sword toward the dragons other leg, slicing it clean open. The dragon fell to the ground, unable to put pressure on his disabled leg.

That was when Frederick saw his crazy chance. He quickly jumped onto the dragon's back then thrusted his sword downwards, straight into the dragon's back. The dark being howled, trying to shake the human off himself. Frederick kept a firm grip on his sword as he was swung from side to side, knowing that if he was thrown off, it could mean his life. Then he noticed several arrows in the dragon's back. Rita must have been helping him out earlier.

The dragon blew fire towards his back, but couldn't turn his head far enough for the flames to get the human. Frederick still held on tight as the dragon shook, but done something he wasn't expecting. The dark being spread his wings, jumped with his back legs, then took off into the air.

Frederick held his breath. His knuckles were white from the pressure he applied to his sword as he held on for dear life. But he had to do something before he was thrown off. But what could he do? The dragon was increasing in altitude, making Frederick even more dismayed than before.

With the cold wind against his face, he eyed the arrows then got an idea. Frederick reached for the nearest arrow and managed to grab it. He pulled to see if he could use it for support, then decided to go for it. Frederick gripped the arrow with one hand, then pulled his claymore out the dragon's back with the other. The dragon roared in response, as Frederick sheathed his claymore onto his back.

Just as he went to reach for the arrow with his other hand, the dragon roared, then did just what Frederick was hoping he wouldn't. A roll.

The dragon flipped over and began flying upside-down. Frederick grabbed the arrow with both hands as hard he could, seeing that he was high enough in the air to make him regret climbing onto the dragon's back.

"You foolish pest!" the elder dark being spat. "I will make sure you die here today!"

Frederick grimaced as he held the arrow tightly, but felt himself beginning to slide downwards. Not only was he loosing his painful grip, the arrow itself was beginning to fall out of the dragon's scales. He looked down, quickly searching for any sort of place he could jump down to without killing himself. But he would have no such luck. The dragon had brought him up near the clouds, far away from any tall buildings.

The dragon roared, shaking himself as he still flew in his inverted position. Then it happened.

The arrow gave way, sending Frederick plummeting down to his doom. The human felt his heart-rate increase, the cold wind in his eyes, unable to do a thing to save himself.

Frederick barely made out another roar over the rushing wind in his face. With the ground slowly approaching, he looked over the best he could, only to spot another black dragon flying toward him. If that dragon didn't get to him first, the ground sure would.

Another roar was cried out into the blackened sky, this time it was even closer. Frederick was afraid to look, but made himself do so. When he saw the dragon, he found himself surprised. With his wings tucked in, the black dragon dived toward Frederick, but didn't bring him any harm. In fact, the dragon matched his speed with the human. Then the swordsman realized who this dragon really was. It was Jazz.

Frederick reached out, afraid to see how close the ground was to him. Jazz flew closer toward him, urging the swordsman to grab a hold of the scales on his back. Seconds passed. The ground was dangerously closer than ever now. With a new determined aspect, Frederick stretched his arm outwards and finally snagged one of Jazz's scales. He pulled himself closer with all of his strength, patted Jazz's back to let him know he was okay, then held on tight.

Jazz expanded his broad wings to slow himself down, as well as to level himself out. Frederick braced himself as he saw tall buildings rush by in a blur. He never went so fast in his life.

"You have my thanks," Frederick finally called out in relief.

Jazz looked back and snorted in response, then heard another dragon's roar from up above them.

The swordsman put his hand on his back to make sure his claymore was still there. Satisfied, he looked up into the sky to see the same black dragon from before. "So, you want to assist me in finishing the job?"

Jazz slowed himself down, showed a small grin, then took off towards the sky.

_Meanwhile_

The street in front of the elder hall was littered with bodies of all colors. Spyro hated killing them, but he had no choice. Attempting to use the pure essence would only give his enemies a chance to rip him to shreds.

"Are you both alright?" Ignitus calmly asked with his back facing Spyro's.

"For now, yes," Cynder replied with her back towards the other two dragons.

Spyro kept a close eye on the remaining dark beings. Thankfully, they were convexity infected, so they couldn't use elements. "I'm fine," he simply answered, wearing a brave face. Truthfully, if it wasn't for Ignitus's help, the dark beings would have had their way with them.

The fire guardian wished he could say that it was almost over. But he would be lieing. This was only the beginning. Dark being's still surrounded them everywhere they looked. Ignitus knew they had to be taken care of. If they just ran, these dark beings could murder families or even friends. They couldn't be cowards now. He just wished this could be easier.

_Meanwhile_

_Outskirts of Warfang_

He had trained for this. He was born for this. So he was ready for this.

Star hovered above the city, listening to the terrible sounds of battle clash in the air. He didn't like it as much as the next dragon, but he still had to press on. His job still stood. He just hoped everyone was alright.

Ignitus had told him to change his color to black so he could blend into the sky. The fire guardian spent plenty of time telling him before-hand about a desert past the Tathric Range. A human had also given him plenty of details about the wasteland, telling him that it was where some portal would be.

It was amazing on how things worked out. One cold heart. That was all it took for a great battle to break out. Ismeral Nexis's heart couldn't have matched this destruction any better. He was going to pay for this tragedy.

But why did Star have the urge to go back?


	61. Connection Between Worlds

If there is anyone who has drawn any pictures that pertains to this story, now is your chance to make it known. Pm me and I'll see if I can get it as the book cover for this story. You don't have to, just pointing it out.

Chapter 61

Connection Between Worlds

Comso held his breathe. He knew Cerulean wouldn't take the news of her parents lightly.

"No!" Cerulean shouted angrily. "They can't be!"

Cosmo flinched at her reaction. It wasn't unexpected, but he could just hear her heart shatter into pieces. The blue scaled toddler just heard about her parents ill-met fate after all.

"I'm sorry Ceri," Cosmo sincerely apologized.

"Don't call me Ceri!" she retorted in desperate disbelief. Cerulean began to back away from the other dragons, keeping a close eye on all of them. "I knew I couldn't trust you! I should have stayed with my mom!" Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Cerulean," Kali calmly began. "I'm sorry about this. But we need to get you to safety."

"Why!" Cerulean yelled. "There's no point! My parents are dead! Dead!"

Then the sky blue toddler turned tail and ran. She couldn't trust them. It was because of these dragons that she was now destined to be alone.

"Cerulean stop!" Cosmo called out.

The small dragon ignored him as she quickly ran out the hospital door. Cosmo quickly gave chase, along with the others. As soon as they exited the building, the yellow dragon looked down the street. She was nowhere in sight.

"Blasted!" Cosmo uttered. "She's going to get herself killed!" He looked back toward the others, shaking his head in disapproval. "We've got to find her."

"Cosmo," Isis lowly began. "We can't. Star will be waiting for us at the desert."

"_The desert?_"

It was then that Cosmo realized how much time he had left in the dragon world. He turned to Kali with regret in his eyes

_Yesterday_

_Midday_

It was pretty cold out at the moment. Winter was still approaching after all. Cosmo sat by himself on the back door step, alone with a music box in his paw. He had to talk to someone about this. Who better than Kaida?

"_Kaida,_" Cosmo silently thought, knowing good and well she could hear him. He already played the melody after all.

"_Yes?_"

Cosmo sighed, happy to hear her voice once again. "_I really need your help right now._"

"_Well you've called the right dragon!_" Kaida enthusiastically said. Cosmo could just picture her smile right now. "_What's wrong?_"

"_Well . . . I'm sure you already know that when this whol__e . . . dark being conflict is over, I'll be sent away._"

There was an awkward moment of silence. Cosmo fiddled with the music box nervously for a bit, waiting for a response.

"_I know,_" Kaida finally replied. "_It's inevitable and useless to think otherw__ise._"

"_Yeah, but how to I tell Kali this? I just don't know how to bring it up to her._"

"_Don't,_" Kaida calmly answered.

Cosmo was a bit bemused at the response. "_Don't?_"

"_If you do, the rest of her time here, along with yours, will be filled with __dread._"

The yellow reptile took a moment to think about it. Of course, it was hard to, knowing Kaida could hear his thoughts. "_So, when do I tell her?_"

"_I won't lie,_" Kaida said, sounding a bit saddened. "_I knew this would happen to you someday. There __is always a goodbye, no matter how long or how short a relationship is. I want you to tell her as late as you can._"

"_But . . . what will I do until then? Kaida, I'm going to be a father without a child. How will Kali get by without me?_"

"_Cosmo,_" Kaida sincerely sighed. "_Pour your heart into it. Take Kali out and do something together. Make the last bits of your life here memorable. Like you did me._"

"_Kaida,_" Cosmo began.

"_I have . . . a confession to make Cosmo,_" Kaida interrupted, sounding a bit nervous. It threw the yellow reptile off for a loop. He wasn't expecting this. "_There was a reason why I didn't have any friends before I met you._" There was a long pause, as if Kaida was building up the courage to say something else. "_I was always mean to e__veryone. Every time someone got close to me, I pushed them away. You can blame my parents for that. Kali never told you, but our parents weren't that close after Balkner was born. He was our brother, in case you've forgotten._"

"_I didn't,_" Cosmo replied.

Kaida continued, "_Anyways, my parents grew apart after that. I was born, then Kali was born not long after that. As time passed, they fought and begun to hate each other. It didn't take long for it to get out of control one night. My dad . . . killed my __mom._"

Cosmo was stunned at this point. He never even heard of this before.

"_Anyways,_" Kaida continued, acting as if she wasn't fazed by that time of her life. "_All I'm saying is that I grew afraid of what male dragons could do . . . until I met you. Wh__en I saw you laying in that forest, I knew you were different. So different that I began to develop feelings toward you._"

"_Feelings?_"

"_I liked you Cosmo. Which was why I let you stay in my home, taught you how to fly, and showed you around the city._ _If__ I were still around . . . I bet things would be a lot different for you. But I knew you wouldn't feel the same way. You were still getting used to your dragon body after all._"

"_Why are you telling me all of this?_" Cosmo asked sincerely.

It was quiet for a moment. The yellow dragon couldn't feel no breeze, but could hear it blowing just above his head, over the rooftops.

"_Just in case I never get to talk to you again,_" Kaida finally answered.

_Present Time_

"Cosmo," Isis said once again, nudging the dragon on the shoulder.

The yellow scaled dragon looked over toward her, "What?"

"Cerulean is gone," she plainly replied. "We have to end this battle. The quicker we get this done, the more lives we'll save."

"I really hate to leave her as well," Isis's white scaled friend budged in. "But we really must get moving. She's much smarter than she looks. I'm sure she can take care of herself for now."

They were all worried about Cerulean as well. Cosmo could tell just by the looks on their faces. But Isis was right. If they were to look for Cerulean, they would put Warfang at risk of a major downfall. He looked over at Kali and could see the worry in her dark sapphire eyes. She slowly nodded in agreement.

"Alright," Cosmo finally said, feeling sorry for the blue scaled toddler. "We should get going to the desert then."

"Me and Micha will stay here," Torch announced. The pink dragoness looked at him befuddledly before he continued. "We'll try to find Cerulean and make sure she's safe. We would probably be a burden in your travels anyways."

Cosmo nodded. "Alright. But for the record, it wouldn't be a burden, but a pleasure."

_Meanwhile_

The air cut through Frederick's hair as he struggled to keep his eyes on his enemy. An elder dark dragon flew towards him as he unsheathed his claymore with one hand, while keeping his hand firmly locked into Jazz's back scales. He wasn't about to let go now. He was just getting started with this dark being.

The dark dragon struggled to keep his speed up, mainly because Frederick already injured his two forelegs and stabbed his back, but he was still flying pretty strongly.

"Why didn't I just stab him in the face?" Frederick told himself. He gripped his claymore tightly, struggling to keep it up with one arm, due to the rushing wind toward him as he flew.

The dark being roared as he leveled himself out with Jazz and Frederick. As he drew closer, Frederick readied himself, but saw the enemy's maul was open. Just as he was about to say something, flames engulfed the space between the dark being and Jazz. Jazz quickly dived downwards while keeping Frederick alive on his back. The human raised his sword and swung towards the dragon's belly as he rushed by, but missed, due to not having enough altitude.

Jazz growled, turned himself around, then increased his speed toward the dark dragon. The elder dark being looked back, then sped up himself. But Jazz wasn't about to just let this one go. He flapped his wings even faster, putting more strength into propelling himself forward. Frederick patted the dragon on the neck as he drew closer toward the dark being.

The dark dragon turned his head, then unleashed a wall of flames toward the duo. Jazz quickly switch sides, avoiding the flames and coming up on the dragon's other flank. Frederick readied himself, then saw the dragon's spike end tail whipping toward them.

"Jazz!" Frederick called out.

The dragon ignored him, and continued forward, despite how dangerously close he was getting. Frederick knew how hardy Jazz acted sometimes. Because of that, Frederick found himself side by side with the dark being. Then the human saw his chance.

Frederick planted his feet in front of him, then leaped with his weapon in hand. The human landed on the dark being's back once again, but nearly slipped as he fell. The dark being roared as he blew flames toward Jazz. Jazz lurched forward with his jaws open, then bit down on the dark being's neck, keeping him occupied for the human to finish the job. Frederick gripped his claymore as he crawled forward, despite the squirming and screaming the dark being did. As he did, Frederick saw something flick at the corner of his eye. He looked back, then felt his heart drop.

"No!"

But it was too late. Before he could save him, the dark being's tail pierced Jazz through his side. The black scaled dragon cried in pain, letting go of the dark being's neck as he did so.

"Foolish dragon!" the dark being growled. He pulled his tail out, then stabbed Jazz once again.

Then Frederick saw Jazz's wings begin to flutter. He grinded his teeth together, turned back around, and roared out a war cry at the top of his lungs. With his knuckles white from the grip on his claymore, he looked back down, then remorsefully thrusted his sword straight into the dragon's neck.

The dark being roared in pain as Frederick pulled out his knife, then knelt down towards the dragon's eye. When the dragon looked, he saw six inches of steel, then he felt a massive amount of pain his eye. Frederick pulled his knife back out, then stabbed the dragon several more times, this time on the top of his head.

"You're going to pay for what you did to Jazz!" Frederick shouted, stabbing the dragon in an angered fashion. The human left the knife in the dragon's head as he pulled his claymore back out the dragon's neck, then aimed a little higher. The head.

Just as the dragon attempted to shake off the human, Frederick threw his sword downwards, straight into the dragon's brain. The dragon immediately roared one last time as Frederick pulled his sword back out the dragon, satisfied that the dragon was now dead.

But if the dragon was dead, then so was he.

The dark being fell out of control, knocking Frederick off and into freefall, but this time, he was much lower. He dropped his claymore as he did so, but it didn't matter. This was it, he was sure of it. There simply wasn't enough time for Jazz to save him. But the dragon had taken it that it was his job to keep the humans safe from the beasts that attack the city. So if he would die doing it, then so be it.

In one last moment, Frederick saw that dragon appear out of nowhere. The dragon quickly got close to the human, just long enough for Frederick to grab a hold. But this wasn't going to work. The ground was getting too close for them to make it.

The swordsman pulled himself close, then braced himself for the worst. He felt the dragon open his wings to slow himself down, then the ground hit. Frederick was knocked off the dragon and was sent flying a few yards away from the scene.

He didn't know what happened after that. His head hurt. His chest hurt. His vision was blurred, and he could hardly breathe. He tried to move his legs, but found he couldn't. Frederick didn't want to look at himself. He was most likely a mess. The only things he was able to make out was that he was near an alleyway. He looked down it and was only able to make out one thing. Jazz. The dragon was laying down on the stone with his back toward Frederick, not moving at all.

"No," Frederick managed to utter. "Jazz."

He put one arm in front of him, then pulled himself forward. It hurt, but he was determined to make it to his dragon. His left arm came next, pulling himself even further.

"I saw them somewhere around here!" someone cried out.

Frederick ignored it. He was only worried about Jazz. He continued to crawl, despite the sounds of battle in the air.

"Look in the alleys!" someone else commanded.

Left, right. Frederick found himself closer than before. His legs hurt, his head was bleeding, but he didn't care.

"There he is!"

He didn't bother to look. Frederick reached out with his head, just out of reach of Jazz's body.

"Oh my god!"

Frederick didn't need to look. He knew it was Myrina just by the voice. He looked over his shoulder and saw her kneel down toward him, inspecting his wounds. "Not me . . . Jazz?" He managed. It hurt to even speak.

"Don't talk!" Myrina replied, worried about the swordsman. "I won't lose you here."

"But—"

"NO!" Myrina cried out.

Frederick was silent. He reached out with his hand once again, only to find he was still out of reach of the dragon that saved him.

_Meanwhile_

Ignitus whipped a dark being with his tail as he blew the hottest of fire onto a group in front of him. The trio were surrounded by dark beings and it only seemed to be getting worse. Fatigue was beginning to set in, but that didn't mean he was about to give up.

"Spyro! Cynder!" Ignitus called out, ramming a dark dragon with his horns.

"You got a plan?" Cynder nervously asked. She forced poison into her claws and began swinging them toward the black dragons as soon as they got close.

"I need you to—" Ignitus dodged an earth missile that was aimed directly for his head. Great. Now there were void infected troops now. The fire guardian continued without hesitation. "I need you to keep me safe for a moment." Ignitus launched a large flaming fireball in front of him, catching nearly six dragons in the explosion.

"Alright!" Spyro obeyed. Someone had to do something. These dark beings were getting relentless. He was more than worried about the situation right now.

At the corner of his eye, the purple dragon noticed a clear force field form around Ignitus. Spyro quickly fired a short arc of electricity toward a charging dark dragon. The element jumped to a few other dragons before losing it's power completely. Then he noticed the force field ripple and grow brighter. Spyro backed up, looked down in front of him, then fired a green line of electricity into the ground.

The stone in front of Spyro rapidly rose in front of him, forming a high wall. But not just any wall. An electric wall. A dark being on the other side attempted to claw his way through, but only resulted in getting fried himself. Satisfied that it should hold them for a few seconds, Spyro turned toward Ignitus and saw void infected dragon unleashing a fury of flames unto Ignitus's shield. The purple dragon immediately charged with his horns lowered, closing the distance between them rather quickly. Before he could react, the dark dragon felt horns impact his side, knocking him down. Spyro didn't let him get back up. He mustered an earth missile, aimed for his head, then let it go. The ground shook mildly as the missile cut through his head, impacting the ground below him.

Cynder wasn't fairing as well. She had a whole group of dark being's heading toward her. She decided to try Spyro's tactic. Two elements for one attack. The black dragon screamed a cry of fear. Green waves of the element passed by the dark being's. Stunned, the dark beings began to feel their scales burn as a green goo formed on their bodies.

The force field flickered once more. Cynder turned and saw Spyro was a bit busy dealing with three dark dragons, so she decided to take care of it.

"How much longer!" Cynder exclaimed. When she was closer, she unleashed high wind at the dark being attacking the force field. The dragon clawed into the stone, refusing to let go. Cynder grew annoyed, then began to step closer. With each step, it became much more difficult to stay grounded for the dark being, until the winds got the better of him. The dark being was blown off down the street, hitting his head on the stone along the way.

Then the opposite of a good thing happened. Ignitus's force field flicking one last time, before it vanished, revealing Ignitus. The fire guardian was in flames, still in concentration on his final attack.

"Fly!" Ignitus commanded! "Get out of here! Both of you!"

"But what about you?" Spyro exclaimed. He did not want to relive this moment again.

"I'll be fine! Go! Now!"

Spyro dodged an ice spike, then knew he had no other choice. He didn't want to, but he leaped up into the air, flapping his wings to get airborne. Cynder was right behind him. The dark beings fired various attacks at them, making the duo evade. Spyro looked back, only to see a few dark beings attacking Ignitus. Spyro could tell they were getting the better of him, raking their claws through the fire guardian's scales.

"Ignitus!" Spyro called out.

Then it happened. Ignitus raised his paws, then brought them back down in one big boom. The flames on the fire guardian dispersed into walls of fire, at least fifteen feet hight. Spyro heard an explosion, then witnessed a shockwave traveling across the ground, shattering windows on buildings along the way. The explosion was so loud, it made the dragon's ear ring. It forced him to look away as a bright light shown from where Ignitus originally was. A few unsettling moments passed, then Spyro and Cynder were able to look back. What they saw astounded them.

The dark beings were gone. In their places were ashes, and not even much of it. Spyro knew the Chronicler had power, but this was ridiculous. The purple dragon saw a few buildings burning around them, including the Elder Hall.

"Spyro, look!"

Cynder pointed, then saw what she was looking at. Ignitus was laying on the ground. It seemed he was the only one who wasn't turned into ashes. Without a word, Spyro took off toward him. Cynder kept close to him as he did, keeping an eye out to make sure that they were all gone. But then she saw something that made her heart speed up again. A group of dark beings were heading their way. Obviously, the explosion must have attracted them.

"There's more on the way!" Cynder announced uneasily as they landed beside the fire guardian.

Spyro was too worried about Ignitus to have any concern of them at the moment. He shook the dragon on his shoulder, then was glad to see his eyes open.

"Spyro," Ignitus weakly said. "You're not supposed to be here."

"We're not leaving without you!" Spyro cried out. "Not again!"

Cynder turned her head and shifted her eyes down the street. She found herself even more worried when she noticed that same mob of dark beings were headed their way.

"We have to do something! There's more on the way!" alarmed Cynder.

"Come on!" Spyro encouraged, urging the fire guardian to get up. He pushed on his shoulder, "You got to be able to stand!"

Ignitus knew he had to at least try, otherwise Spyro wouldn't leave. He slowly shifted his legs under him, then stood to his feet with his legs shivering.

"My attack drained most of my energy," Ignitus managed. "I will only slow you two down."

"We have to try!" Spyro shouted, not accepting defeat. He pushed on Ignitus's front leg with his head, urging him to move.

The fire guardian feebly took his first step as Cynder forced herself to look back. The dark beings were closer than before. A lot closer.

"We're going to need a miracle," Cynder told herself. "Nothing less will work."

"A miracle?" emitted a voice overhead.

Everyone looked, then saw the one dragon that could get them out of this mess. A dragon that was simply black all over.

"Star?" Cynder exclaimed in surprise.

Star looked behind the trio, then softly landed beside Cynder. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but he was showing that he wasn't planning on backing down.

"Perhaps a miracle can be arranged," Star answered back in a much less worried tone than Cynder.

Spyro couldn't believe their luck. But could Star really take on a mob of dark beings? "Do you need help?" he asked simply.

Star showed a grin. "We'll see."

Taking his first step forward, Star took notice of the numbers of dragons heading toward him. There must have been twenty or so, it wasn't easy to tell. Wouldn't matter in a few moments anyways.

Star planted his paws firmly on the ground, then spread his wings as wide as he could. Closing his eyes, the dragon charged up his attack while Spyro and Cynder helped Ignitus further down the street. The dark beings roared toward Star as his wings began to glow green, pulsating with plasma. As the dark dragon closed in, he let the energy loose.

An army of small green spears formed in front Star's wings, then immediately took off toward the charging mob. Spears continued to form and fire as Star carefully aimed his heavy attack, watching plasma spears fly into the enemy.

The first spear pierced through a dark dragons leg, slicing the limb cleanly, making the dragon fall. With his leg infected with plasma, the element begun to spread across his body, turning him into a glowing green goo.

Everyone else was left with the same fate. The spears fired as quickly as they were made. The dark beings were close to their attacker, but Star's attacks were keeping them back.

But Spyro wasn't expecting Star to just attack them like this. He remembered when Star emitted a bright light when the Elder Hall was attacked one day. The light somehow healed the dark beings, purging convexity from their bodies.

"Why is he killing them?" Spyro asked, hoping Ignitus was strong enough to answer.

Ignitus was still weak, but managed to answer. "Purifying convexity consumes a great deal of energy. He hates it as much as you do Spyro, but he knows that if he attempts to purge, most of his energy will become depleted."

Cynder watched in awe as Star's small spears formed from his wings, attacking the dark beings relentlessly. She never seen the plasma element used in such a way before. Perhaps Star was able to manipulate the elements as he saw fit? Maybe that was what made him special.

_A Few Minutes Earlier_

These tunnels were beginning to get to Yin. It felt like as if they've been walking for hours and the walls seemed to be getting closer to her. But it couldn't have been possible, otherwise the larger dragon leading them would have gotten stuck.

"Ooooooh, there once was a dragon who was mighty and lean, until he had eaten a big giant bean."

Myrianda's rough singing wasn't helping either. Yin doubted that was even lyrics from an actual song. Luckily, she stopped for the time being.

"Don't know what else to sing," Myrianda calmly said, pondering on any other song she knew.

The brown scaled bar owner turned his head back with a confused face for a moment. "I never thought singing would want to make me tear out my eardrums," he sarcastically remarked.

"That's nothing!" Myrianda replied, grinning without a care in the world. "Do you want to hear more?"

"Pass," the bar owner simply replied.

Yin began to walk a little faster, eager to get out of the confined space. She bumped into Myrianda but didn't even care. The white dragoness only pushed her, trying to get her out of the way.

"Hey!" Myrianda shouted. "We can do it later, just not now Yin. Stop pushing my butt!"

The bar owner slowly shifted his gaze behind him, almost afraid to see what those two were doing. "Erm . . . is everything alright? Should I leave you two alone?"

Yin continued to push Myrianda forward, desperate to leave the dusty tunnels behind her. "We have to get out of here!"

Myrianda planted her paws directly in front of her, then clawed into the dirt below, trying to stop Yin. "Whoa Yin. Just take it easy now. Just think about bunnies, rainbows, and cute kitty cats."

"What?" the bar owner replied, walking forward and staying out of the situation. "That never works!"

"Just wait for it," Myrianda replied. "It will."

As soon as she said it, Yin's pushing began to cease. The bar owner was a little amazed at this point. He never expected something that stupid would actually work.

"You're kidding?"

Myrianda shook her head. "Don't tell me I don't know how to make Yin feel better. We've been friends since the day we met."

"But," the bar owner began, remembering how they treated each other back in the bar. "You two always fought every time I saw you. Hardly agreeing with each other about anything."

"Doesn't mean we can't be friends," Myrianda replied. "So what. We're different from each other, heck, complete opposites. She's Yin and I'm the yang. Two completely opposite things, working together to create something harmonious."

The brown dragon raised an eye. "I don't even know who you are anymore."

Myrianda smiled. Which was very surprising. The bar owner never recalled seeing that dragoness smile toward him before.

Then the ground shook. It was mild at first, then it began to grow worse. Not even moments after that, the trio heard a massive explosion as it shook the planet like an earthquake.

"Crud," Myrianda lowly said. She raised her voice, noticing small rocks and sand beginning to fall from the ceiling. "We've got to get out of here!"

He didn't hesitate either. The bar owner snagged the torch with his teeth and began to run on all fours. Myrianda and Yin kept close to him, not wanting to get left behind in the darkness.

The ground heard the tunnel beginning to collapse behind them as the ground stopped shaking. They didn't need to look back to know that the cave-in was getting closer.

"Rainbows!" Yin called out. "Cute kitties! Bunnies!" A heart pounding second passed. "It's not working Myrianda!"

"Just focus on running!" the pink dragoness called back. She looked back, but wasn't able to see very far due to the darkness. She looked back ahead, then utilized her night vision, then looked back. "Crap! I shouldn't have done that!"

Yin however looked as if she was out of zone for a moment. It made Myrianda worry.

"Yin!" Myrianda yelled. "I said focus!"

All of the sudden, Yin looked more confident that before. She wore a more serious but brave face, as she called out as loud as she could. "Go straight!"

"What?" the bar owner replied with the torch in his teeth. "What do you mean?"

"There's a fork up ahead! Go straight!"

The bar owner was about to respond, until he found what she was talking about. The path forked both, left and right. But he obeyed and ran straight with the tunnel collapsing right behind them.

Myrianda could tell Yin was beginning to tire. She never had a problem, due to her increased stamina ability.

"Come on!" Myrianda encouraged. "Don't slow down on me now!"

It seemed as if her words were actually helping this time as the white dragoness pusher herself, catching back up to them. Soon enough, they saw the tunnel open up into a large room of some kind. The dragons sprinted towards it, hoping it was the end. Yin looked back, able to see the ceiling caving in right behind her. As soon as she ran into the new room, the tunnel behind them collapsed completely.

"That was . . . close," the bar owner said between breaths.

"No kidding," Myrianda sarcastically replied.

"How are you . . . not out of . . . breath?"

"Well I must be more athletic than both of you."

The bar owner could have laughed at that statement. "You're a drunk. How? . . . You know what . . . who cares?"

Yin panted, catching her breath as she looked around the new room they were in. The ceiling looked as if it were made of concrete with stone columns supporting it. The room itself wasn't all the big either. Some hay decorated the far corner as pieces of wood littered the stone flooring beneath them. It was hard to tell, but it looked as if there were stairs near the other end of the room, but they didn't seem to go anywhere but the roof.

"Look over there, near the ceiling," Myrianda pointed out.

Yin looked, then saw a small hole that looked as if it led outdoors. But it looked as if it was blocked by a few boards on the other side.

"Say Yin," the bar owner began, setting the torch down on the ground. "How did you know there was a fork in the tunnel earlier?"

She didn't hesitate to answer. "I've been in these tunnels before. We just got lucky that we went down the same one's I was familiar with."

"Oh," was his reply. "Well then, let's get out of here shall we?"

The brown scaled dragon picked the torch back up with his teeth then walked over towards the hole. Myrianda slowly scooted over beside Yin and whispered, "You lied."

"He wouldn't have understood," Yin quietly replied.

"You had a vision didn't you?"

The white dragoness nodded. "I saw us turning right at first. It only led to a dead end, of which we became crushed by the rocks."

Myrianda clenched her teeth. "Ouch. What about the other way?"

Yin shrugged. "Don't know. I was hoping that if we went down the wrong path again, I would have had another vision."

"Probably led to our death anyways," Myrianda replied.

"Could use some help here," the bar owner asked, looking up toward the hole. It wasn't that high up, but he knew it was going to be a tight squeeze for him.

"Right then," Myrianda began. "Let's be on our way shall we?"

Both dragoness' made their way over toward the only exit there was. Yin jumped up through the hole first, then noticed that the boards were only just sitting in place. She pushed them out of the way then crawled her way outside, taking note of her surroundings while she was at it.

It looked as if they were in someone's yard near a main street. With the sounds of agony in the air, she turned and saw a large house, noticing the hole they crawled out of led to a basement of some sort. The house had a large window just above the door, but it looked as if no one was home. Or they could have been cowering in the dark.

"We're under a house," Yin announced, sticking her head through the hole.

"You mean like a basement?" the bar owner replied.

Yin simply nodded.

The next dragon out was Myrianda. Yin helped her up the best she could with a helping paw. She was pretty heavy, so it took a lot of strength to pull her up. Next was the bar owner. Myrianda stuck her paw down in the hole as Yin kept a hold of Myrianda's tail. The bar owner picked up his torch in his teeth then jump up toward the hole, grabbing a hold of the pink dragoness' paw. It was pretty difficult, considering she didn't have hands, but she managed to help the dragon up. It was a tight squeeze, but with a pull, he managed to get through. The brown scaled dragon tossed his torch on the street, letting it be. It would draw attention to them anyways. Better for it to be in the street than in the basement. He didn't want to be responsible for burning down a house.

"Right," Myrianda began, ignoring the alarming sounds in the city. "Where to now?"

"Well, we have to get to the desert," Yin answered, referring to herself and the pink dragoness.

"Desert?" the bar owner repeated, baffled by what her plans were. "Well, I won't ask. But I have business to attend elsewhere."

"You're leaving?" Myrianda unhappily asked.

The bar owner showed a fake smile, "Don't worry. I'm sure I'll see you two again at the bar when this is all over."

"You can bet on it," the pink dragoness replied. "Right Yin?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure. Who doesn't love watching you drink yourself to death?"

_A Few Minutes Earlier_

Cosmo was nearly about to worry himself to death. There was so much going through his mind at the moment, Kali had to remind him to flap his wings before he fell to the battle-ridden streets below. He just didn't know how to break the unfortunate news to her. Telling someone you were never going to see her again wasn't going to be easy.

The skies were black and dark. It was hard to tell whether there were dragons flying about. A cold chill made itself known as the they flew at a fairly high altitude, mainly to keep clear of any dark beings that might happen to see them.

He thought about what Kaida told him about spending as much time with her as possible. Cosmo took her advice, trusting that she knew what was best for her sister. The yellow dragon took her out to dinner as much as he could, along with going out to twilight falls. Everywhere he went, he made sure Kali was with him. Cosmo didn't know whether this was beginning to annoy Kali or not, but she never showed any sort of irritation to the matter. In fact, she seemed to enjoy every bit of it, which was exactly what Cosmo wanted.

Suddenly, Cosmo saw a bright light in the distance. It caught everyone's attention as it lit up the black sky, forming into an fiery explosion. Walls of fire traveled across the street and over buildings as they all witnessed a shockwave traveling toward them.

Isis's white scaled friend was the first to comment on the scene. "Sacré bleu! That must be a coercive blast for us to see the shockwave with our own eyes!"

Cosmo watched the shockwave continue to travel across the ground. "If you hate loud noises then you better cover your ears!"

Everyone took his advice except for himself. Cosmo was used to things like this.

Before the shockwave even arrived, the deafening explosion came. It was louder than Cosmo had predicted, but it still didn't bother him, other than the fact it quickly brought unpleasant memories through his mind.

It didn't take but a few seconds for the shockwave to pass. Cosmo looked back, watching the wave race across Warfang.

"That was horrible," Kali indicated, frightened by what just happened.

"_That's nothing,_" Cosmo thought to himself.

Isis looked her friend over, making sure she was alright. She showed a smile of appreciation in return. "I'm quite alright Isis. I just wasn't expecting something like that."

The fur dragon nodded. "We need to go see what caused that. It looked like it was near the Elder Hall."

Worry crawled through Cosmo as he noticed that as well. He turned toward Kali, "You alright?"

She nodded, feeling a bit better knowing Cosmo was there for her. "We should fly over there. Who knows what caused that explosion."

Without another word, they all headed towards the source of the blast. Cosmo just hoped that it wasn't powerful enough to cause a fallout. He didn't want to worry about falling debris as they flew.

It took a few minutes, which gave time for Cosmo to think. He didn't want to go home. But the more he thought about it, the more confused he became. His mother was waiting for him to walk through her front door. He remembered the promise he made to her that one day, a hero named Steven would walk through that door once again. Even if he never done anything heroic back on earth, he would at least have the satisfaction that he was a hero here.

"Look down there!" Isis called out, pointing downwards toward a body littered street.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Cosmo obeyed and saw a few dark beings charging toward one lone dragon. Behind that dragon sat three familiar faces, all watching the scene. Bodies littered the ground in front of the lone dragon. Did he kill all of them by himself?

"It's Star!" Isis exclaimed. "I've never seen plasma used like that before!"

Everyone noticed as well. Green spears rapidly formed from the dragon's glowing wings and were quickly fired toward the dark dragons. Many piles of green goo decorated the street as Cosmo dived down, hoping there was a way he could help out. Everyone else was quick to follow.

However, it grew pointless as Cosmo saw the last few dark beings fall before Star's might. Even if a void infected troop fired off an elemental projectile, Star's own plasma spear would intercept it, almost as if they had a mind of their own. Before the yellow dragon could even land, the last dark being fell, turning into a green goo.

"Goodness me!" Isis's white scaled friend began in disbelief. "Did he just . . ."

Isis smiled. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you now." They all landed behind this dragon, as he turned around to see them. "Meet Star. Our last hope to end this conflict."

"Pleasure," Star simply greeted. He seemed a bit tired at the moment but still showed a smile.

The black scaled dragon walked past them, quickly making his way toward Spyro, Cynder, and Ignitus. They all seemed fine, but upon closer inspection, Cosmo noticed that the fire guardian looked very weary.

"Is everyone alright?" Cosmo asked, approaching them with concern. "We saw an explosion and came over as quick as we could."

Spyro and Cynder gave each other sincere looks. The purple dragon replied, "We were surrounded before Star came, so Ignitus had no choice but to use his most powerful technique."

Isis looked at the Elder Hall, noticing it wasn't on fire as it was before. "I'm surprised the buildings around here still stands."

"That was quite an explosion," the fur dragon's friend added.

Cynder and Spyro looked the white dragoness over. The black dragoness showed a friendly smile, "You must be Isis's friend."

The white dragoness nodded, but looked almost confused. "My word, Isis, have you even told them my name?"

The fur dragon shook her head, seeming a bit uncomfortable toward her response. "Erm . . . if I say no, will you get mad?"

"Mad?" Isis's friend repeated, almost laughing the mood away. "I don't get mad. I never get mad. I was just surprised at you."

"Anyways," Ignitus interrupted, sounding a bit livelier than he did earlier. Everyone turned their attention toward the guardian, which was what he obviously wanted. "You all know what you must do to end this battle."

"Desert?" Spyro guessed.

Ignitus nodded.

"Hey!"

Everyone turned, then saw an astonishing sight. A golden dragonfly hovered a few feet behind the purple dragon with his arms crossed, looking as if he was aggravated for being ignored for so long.

"Sparx?" Spyro nearly exclaimed. "I thought you were cowering in our house?"

"I resent that," the dragonfly replied. "More like I was spying on the enemy."

Cynder was nearly lost in laughter at when she heard that. Sparx looked her with a cocked eye, wondering what she was going on about.

"I'm sorry," Cynder began. "But I can't picture Sparx doing such a thing."

"Anyways," Spyro slurred, getting their attention. "We should go. The longer we stay here, the more lives that will be lost."

Ignitus nodded in agreement. "Spyro is right. All of you should get going. I will stay here and do what I can from the Elder Hall." He took a deep breath as he looked down upon all of the dragons looking up at him. "I wish I could go with you, but I'm afraid I've already used up too much of my energy. So I wish you all the best of luck. May the guardians watch over you. May they watch over us all."

Spyro nodded. "Alright . . . let's get going then." He then showed a smile toward the fire guardian. "Just be careful Ignitus."

"And to you as well," the guardian replied, watching the purple dragon flap his wings. "I'm sure that Blaze and Clover are at the portal by now. So make haste. You should not keep them waiting any longer."

Cosmo watched the purple dragon take off first, eager to get this over with. Cynder and Sparx followed him closely as the yellow reptile looked at Kali, who shown him a comforting smile. He had seen it many times before, but knew what it meant. She had enough confidence to know that they were going to make it through this in one piece.

"I'll stay here," Isis's white scaled friend said. "As I may have indicated before, I'm not much of a fighter. I don't want to get in the way."

Isis didn't want her to, but knew it was better this way. The fur dragon didn't want to deliberately put her in harm's way so she stayed quiet.

"But just in case things go the wrong way," the white scaled dragoness continued. She turned toward Isis then didn't hesitate to wrap her forelegs around her. Isis was a bit taken back, but returned the hug with one of her own.

"Don't worry," Isis assured as her friend pushed away. "Before this day ends, everything will be back the way it supposed to be."

There were some parts of that phrase that made Cosmo flinch. The way it supposed to be. If things were the way it was supposed to be, he wouldn't be in this world. He didn't know whether she knew it or not, but if they all succeed in their mission, Isis would have been telling the truth in more ways than one.

"You coming with us Sparx?" Spyro asked.

Sparx looked at Spyro skeptically. "Another insane adventure with you and a bunch of other dragons I hardly even know? Sounds like fun."

_Later_

The trip was long and tiring. Spyro, Cynder, Cosmo, Kali, Isis, Yin, Myrianda, and Sparx flew their way across the cold Tathric Range, past a heavy forested jungle, and took a break down on a deserted beach. Cosmo and Kali stayed close as they watched the waves reach in onto the cold sands. The sky was still dark and the winds were just as chilly as before. No one talked, unless it was necessary. Suspense kept them quiet.

It took a few minutes for them to feel rested enough to fly again. The desert was close. It wouldn't take much longer for them to reach the portal.

Eventually, the desert came into view on the horizon. Dark red clouds covered the desert, but they swirled near the middle of them.

"That must be the portal," Cosmo guessed out loud.

"Look like it," Kali replied, nudging Cosmo on his shoulder.

They continued on, taking their time when landing in the clouds to make sure it was safe. Landing on the sand beneath the darkened fog, Cosmo felt very uneasy underneath the cloud. He looked at Kali as she landed beside him to see her offering a comforting smile.

"You alright?" Kali silently asked.

Cosmo nodded. "Yeah . . . let's just get this over with."

He looked ahead toward the swirling clouds, feeling the rift of the portal connecting this planet, the it's dark twin hovering above their heads. The yellow reptile turned toward everyone else, seeing that they too, felt a little tense about what had to be done.

They all quietly made their way toward the swirling clouds.


	62. An Old Friend

AU: Took the time to correct the 'your' and 'you're' mistakes. Had to replace nearly every chapter and stopped counting them after about 50 on Chapter 20. Reviews are always appreciated of course.

Chapter 62

An Old Friend

It was dark and mostly quiet. A cold, uncomfortable breeze passed by the group of dragons, who were slowly making their way to the center of the swirling clouds. All of the dragons looked at one another, easily able to tell that they were all nervous. It almost made Spyro shiver. The cold desert sands weren't helping either.

Was this place really the home of hidden wealth, as spoken of in fables? The purple dragon heard about the Oasis of Riches, but only from books. If that book was indeed true, then the wealth beneath his feet would definitely help rebuild Warfang . . . again.

"What's that?" Isis asked, sounding troubled as she pointed up ahead.

Spyro got to looking as well as the rest of them. It was hard to tell due to the dark fog they walked inside, but it looked almost like someone was lying in the dirt.

Cosmo was more than worried at this point. "Wait . . . you don't think that's Clover or Blaze do you?"

Without a word, Spyro paced himself ahead of the others, hoping Cosmo was wrong. Cynder followed him closely, keeping an eye out all around them. The closer they got toward the center, the thicker the fog got. Anything could be hiding in the clouds.

"It's not them," Spyro announced, relieved to see the scales on this dragon was black.

The purple dragon examined the dragon and spotted the cause of him just laying there. He spotted several gouges and wounds on the dragon as well. Black fumes escaped his scales, but dissipated as soon as it met the cold air.

"Wait a second," Spyro began in realization. If black fumes still left his body . . . then that could only mean . . . .

He didn't have time to think before the dark being's eyes shot open, immediately meeting's Spyro's. The purple dragon jumped back in surprise, as the dark dragon quickly shifted to his feet, looking weak from his wounds.

Everyone kept their distance as the dark being unleashed flames from his nostrils, though it quickly dissipated in the air.

"This guy shouldn't be a problem," Spyro began, but trailed off as he noticed the black dragon was acting pretty strangely.

The dark being was swinging his claws as hard as he could, but not toward anyone in Spyro's direction. His eyes were everywhere, almost as if he thought he was surrounded by foes.

Cynder knew these void infected troops were dangerous, but she never expected them to be crazed. "What exactly is he doing?" She kept a close eye on the dark dragon, which still swung in through the dark mist as if he were blind.

"It's madness," Star finally answered from behind. "Although it isn't me who is causing it."

The question answered itself when the group heard a shout out in front of them. They all looked ahead simultaneously to see Clover along with Blaze, motioning them to hurry along. Spyro wasn't one to argue. He, along with the others, made their way around the dark being, making sure to keep their distance from him.

As soon as they were close to Clover and Blaze, the desert sands begun to shake. It quickly intensified for a few seconds, making the dragon lose their balance and nearly fall down.

"Earthquake?" Myrianda called out in surprise, barely keeping her balance.

Before anyone could respond, the quake begun to die down. Soon enough, the blackened desert was as quiet as it was before. The cool breeze blew once more, but felt a little chillier this time. It almost made Cosmo shiver.

The yellow reptile looked up into the sky, able to make out the outline of the dark planet. "It's getting closer," he nervously informed. "We don't have much time left."

Sparx, however, had a grin on his face. Spyro looked at him questionably, making Sparx feel uncomfortable. "What?"

"I don't see how you can have a grin on your face," Spyro plainly replied.

"I wasn't grinning," Sparx quickly retorted. "I was just smiling because I didn't feel an earthquake. For once, I came out of a disaster clean."

Cynder rolled her eyes. "You weren't on the ground like us. Besides, I believe things are about to take a turn for the worse."

Sparx looked back to make sure that dark being was still crazed. He was happy to see him in the distance still swinging his claws around as well as breathing fire in the air.

"Cynder's right," Clover calmly replied. He took a deep breath and turned around toward the swirling clouds' center. The black void made Sparx wonder why he came along. "The portal is right there. No doubt it leads to the dark planet. We have to be quick with this. The atmosphere on the planet can be hazardous if we take too long."

"Hazardous?" Yin repeated. "I wasn't informed upon this."

"Neither was I," Myrianda followed.

Clover looked over at Blaze, then back at the portal. Taking his first step forward, the others followed. "The atmosphere consists of the void as well as convexity. It's there to keep the dark beings under their spells for as long as they are under it. If you begin to feel sick, or even close, then Star will assist you in purging the dark elements from your body."

Spyro was worried about this. He looked back at Star to see a plain look on his face, almost as if he was in his own little world. "But won't that weaken Star?"

"Which is why we must be swift," answered Clover.

It didn't take long for the group of dragons to feel the rift of the portal. It looked as if the dark clouds were being sucked into the black void, although they never truly went away.

Spyro turned towards Sparx, still walking toward the portal. "Sparx, you still have a chance to back out. I wouldn't blame you."

"Back out?" Sparx repeated in question. "What's his name must have put some madness too if you think that."

The purple dragon frowned. Really, he wanted Sparx to stay out of this place. But he couldn't force him to stay. This time, it was his choice.

"Is everyone ready?" Clover asked, standing inches away from the black portal.

All the dragons looked at one another, silently forcing themselves to nod. Kali stood close to Cosmo, the best comfort she could find.

"Yes," Star answered for everyone.

"We have to do this," Myrianda confidently said, eager to get this over with.

Isis nodded in agreement. "Warfang is relying on us. Not only them, but the entire world as well."

Cosmo could hear the echoing sadness in her voice, though it remained unknown for everyone else. He felt the same way. When this was over, so were the six.

"Are you alright?" Kali quietly asked.

Cosmo forced himself to nod. "Yeah, I'm just nervous."

"As are we," Blaze added. It wasn't often the shy dragon spoke. "But as long as we stick together and watch each other's backs, we should be fine."

"_Should_," Cosmo thought. "_Not only are we battling against an entire army of dark beings, we also have Ismeral Nexis to worry __about. Time is also against us. This is not going to be fun._"

The yellow dragon's thoughts were broken as soon as Clover reached his paw out toward the black rift. The portal rippled upon touch, almost as if it were made of water. Then the unexpected happened. Clover felt his paw become grabbed by the portal itself. Before he could say a word, it forcefully pulled him through, making him disappear in the blink of eye.

_Meanwhile_

The Elder Hall now served a new purpose as a safe haven from those heathens roaming the streets. Of course, he had no other choice. The streets weren't safe and there was nothing more to be done. He could only ride out the storm and hope those dragons would succeed in their mission.

Earlier, Ignitus spotted a group of humans making their way toward the Elder Hall. While the streets were clear for the moment, he quickly helped them inside, only to find out that Frederick was severely injured. Frederick stayed conscious long enough for Ignitus to help him into a bed in the Elder Hall. After that, he passed out.

The room they occupied was the same room Cosmo slept in when he was training Star. Many beds decorated the floor as well as a few paintings on the wall. The fireplace was burning dimly, but was still a reliable light source as well as heat.

Ignitus spent the time to examine Frederick's wounds. It simply didn't look good. His legs were broken, along with his right wrist. He was breathing rather heavy as if his ribs were cracked and there were numerous cuts on his arms and face. The blood had dried up several minutes earlier however, though Ignitus could tell he lost a lot of blood from them.

"You think he's going to be alright Ignitus?"

The fire guardian looked down to see Myrina. He knew how much she cared about Frederick. Ignitus felt regretful for what he was about to say.

"I'm afraid he's not getting along as smooth as I hoped," he faintly answered. Myrina felt heartbroken as he continued. "I'm sorry Myrina, but . . . he won't make it through the night."

"No," Myrina went in disbelief. "It can't be . . ."

Ignitus didn't enjoy seeing these reactions. He looked down at Frederick once more, then back at Myrina. She had her face buried on the bedside of Frederick. "I'll leave you alone for now."

Myrina said nothing back. Ignitus didn't want to leave her here alone, but he had to check up on that other dragon. Jazz if he remembered correctly.

The dragon was injured, but conscious. He was the one who carried Frederick to the Elder Hall before the fire guardian took over. Ignitus never seen a lesser intelligent dragon with his own eyes. He had always believed that they were dominant and aggressive creatures. For once, Ignitus had no idea on how the humans befriended him.

Eventually, Ignitus found his way into the training grounds where Jazz was in wait. Isis's mysterious white scaled friend was there to keep him company. She seemed to be sleeping on the grass next to him, at least until Ignitus entered the large room. It was as if she sensed his presence. Then Ignitus noticed Aruto sitting down cross-legged next to Jazz, who was lying down on the grass himself. His longsword was sticking out of the ground next to him as well.

"Ignitus," Aruto greeted simply, tipping his head toward him out of respect.

Ignitus sat down himself as he stretched his wings out. "You seem weary Aruto," the fire guardian began as he folded his wings back into place.

The human shook his head. "I've been through a lot today Ignitus. I need the rest, but I can't close my eyes."

Jazz looked toward Aruto, but stayed quiet. The blood from the dragon's wounds had stopped long ago, but it left him greatly fatigued. He was going to need a lot of rest.

"Any word from Frederick?" Aruto asked, hoping for at least a hint of good news. "I've already lost too many men to those abominations." He began to sound a bit upset.

Ignitus shifted positions uncomfortably. He doubted Frederick would even make it through the night. He didn't want to bring bad news, but he didn't want to lie either.

The fire guardians took a deep breath then answered, "I'm sorry Aruto. I don't know if he will make it for much longer."

Jazz picked his head up in disbelief. Ignitus could see it in his very eyes that he was in denial of Frederick's fate. He seen that look one time too many.

"Aye," Aruto quietly replied, gloominess in his tone. He looked over toward his longsword then slowly reached for the handle. He was quick to pull it out of the ground just to lay the weapon over his lap, examining the steel blade itself.

"Are you alright?" Ignitus asked in concern.

The human nodded. "There are only five of us left. When Frederick leaves us . . . ."

A wave of sadness crashed over everyone in the room. Even the white scaled dragoness felt the same, if not worse. "I never saw such calamity back in Clawstone."

"This is happening everywhere," Ignitus lowly said. "Clawstone, Garipton, Corspon, and even out in Highscales. Our hope lies with the six, along with Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, and Star. All we can do now is wait and defend ourselves if need be."

Aruto gently laid his sword down on the grass beside him. He rubbed his two hands together, keeping them warm from the nippy air. "Let's just hope it doesn't come to that."

_The Dark Planet_

The transition between worlds wasn't a pleasant one, but Cosmo managed to make it through. It took him a moment for his head to clear up, but as soon as it did, he looked around himself.

Everyone seemed to be alright and in one piece. Behind the group was the black rift from before. A dark mist hovered around the group of dragons, making visibility low for the time being. It was hard to tell what was around him for the moment, but he could just feel like he wasn't supposed to be here.

No one was.

"Not a very appealing ride," Kali began, calm and collected. She took her place beside Cosmo, standing close to him for comfort.

"I second that," Isis groaned, standing to her feet.

Myrianda shrugged, eager to move on. "I've been through worse."

Yin nearly scoffed. "Says the drunk-head."

Star nearly busted out laughing at this point. It was hard to hold it in, but he was immediately noticed by the others. Star began hopping up and down a few times, smiling as he did so. "What? That was funny."

Cosmo nearly smirked toward his behavior. He must have had a lot of energy for him to be hopping around like he did. "Save your energy Star, we're going to need every ounce you got."

Sparx looked toward Spyro with a strange look on his face. "What?" the purple dragon asked.

The golden dragonfly rolled his eyes. "You didn't tell me the fate of the world rests in a hyperactive dragon I don't even know."

"What makes you think that Sparx?" Cynder asked, taking her place beside Spyro.

"Anyways," Clover interrupted, brushing the sand of his scales. "We really must get moving."

"We walking?" Isis asked.

Clover nodded, "If we fly, we may draw unwanted attention to ourselves. I want Sparx in the back."

Sparx crossed his arms, a bit irritated, but still held his dignity. "Sure," he slurred.

Spyro skeptically looked toward the dragonfly. "I'll keep an eye on him."

The dragonfly rolled his eyes once more.

Without another word, they all silently began their walking, leaving the portal behind them. With each step, they left a footprint in the cold sands below, except for Sparx, of course. Spyro made sure to keep his glow hidden the best he could.

It only took a short minute for them to leave the mist. When the dragons emerged, they looked ahead to see the same desert they were in before, except for one thing.

A tall pillar of stone lied ahead. The structure looked like a tower of some sort. It was hard to tell what was going on over there though. The tower must have been several hundred yards away.

The group also noticed the sky was tainted with thick clouds of darkness. They swirled as lightening traveled through them, lighting up the sky whenever it did. It was all so different from what the group was used to. This must have been what Clover was talking about.

"What do you see Blaze?" Clover patiently asked as the red scaled dragon looked toward the tower.

"_That's right,_" Cosmo began in his thoughts. "_I forgot that one of Blaze's abilities was eagle eye._"

With his eagle eye, Blaze's vision zoomed in, almost like a pair of binoculars. He spotted the tower and then called out what he saw. "There's a tall stone wall around the tower. Shouldn't be a problem to fly over, but we would be spotted by the dark beings guarding the entrance almost immediately."

"That will be a problem," Clover quietly said, pondering on what to do. "Anything else?"

Blaze continued from where he left off. "I see only one entrance into the tower. It won't be easy getting inside. There are some windows, but they're barred shut."

"I could take care of that," Cosmo volunteered, glad he could use his abilities to some use. Clover looked over towards him while the yellow reptile continued. "I can increase my strength and bend the bars out of the way."

"Can that be done Blaze?" Clover quickly asked.

A few seconds passed until the red dragon answered, "I don't know. It will be a tight squeeze so you would have to pull the bars out instead of bending them aside. I doubt the dark beings would let you though." Another few moments passed, then he noticed something odd at the top floor. "There's something going on through the top floor window. Not sure though, hard to tell from this point of view."

"Could be Ismeral Nexis," Clover openly suggested.

Blaze closed his eyes, rubbed them for a moment, then looked back at Clover. "That's all I can see from this angle."

"Right," Clover began. "Let's get to it then."

Clover took the first step toward the tower. It was going to be a few minutes before they reached it, so they had plenty of time to come up with a plan before then.

Everyone followed, keeping a sharp eye out for anything suspicious. Cosmo was beginning to feel a bit nauseated at the moment, but fine nevertheless. He guessed it was his nerves getting the better of him. His heart beat faster than normal and he was beginning to sweat just from sheer nervousness. If Kali wasn't beside him, he knew he would have been a lot worse.

"Alright," Clover began, still walking. He took a deep breath and then continued. "I think I have a plan."

"Plan?" Star repeated in excitement. Cosmo didn't know how he was able to keep his cool like that.

"Yes," Clover simply replied. "Cosmo is going to need time to open a path for us, so he's going to need a distraction. Isis, I want you to protect Cosmo as he works on the bars. Myrianda and Yin, I want you two to fly around them. Try to keep them away from Cosmo and Isis. Attack only when you can. While you two distract them, Blaze, Kali, Spyro, Cynder, and I will take them out from behind."

"What about me?" Star asked in a raised voice, still as excited as before. "What do I do?"

"I want you to keep an eye on everyone. If you see someone in trouble, help him out. Alright Star?"

Star grinned and nodded.

Sparx wiped his brow. He whispered out from behind Spyro, "Seems I got the longer end of the stick this time."

"Sparx," Clover began.

"Spoke too soon," Sparx sighed.

Clover continued, seeming as if he didn't hear him. "I want you to fly thought the bars and get to the top floor. Ismeral Nexis is most likely up there. See what he's up to and don't get caught. Come back to us once you do."

Sparx was silent. Spyro turned toward him with a grin. "You were saying?"

"Shut it."

A few minutes passed as they walked. The tower slowly approached and the group began to feel some discomfort. Cosmo felt more nauseated than he did before. Something wasn't right with him. Kali even began to notice.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, getting everyone's attention as she did.

Cosmo shook his head. "I feel sick. My head is beginning to hurt."

Clover looked towards Cosmo, already knowing what the problem was. "It's the atmosphere. Anyone else feeling the same?"

"Sort of," Isis replied. "Not really, but I can feel it."

Cynder looked beside her toward Spyro worriedly. "I'm fine Cynder," Spyro quietly said, knowing what she was thinking.

Clover stopped long enough to check up on Cosmo. The yellow reptile began to hold his stomach with his right paw. He clenched his teeth as his head begun to ache. "I feel like I'm about to vomit."

"Star," Clover called out. "We need you over here."

The black scaled dragon was there in a quick second. Before Clover said anything, Star raised his paw toward Cosmo, beginning to get to work. Star closed his eyes as Cosmo saw a faint white light begin to shine from Star's paw. The light then began to travel through the air in a small stream into the yellow dragon's scales. Kali watched in awe as Cosmo's scales began to change color, from yellow to white. Black mist begun to escape from his scales as Cosmo's breathing begun to slow.

"That feels," Cosmo began. "Wonderful."

Once the black mist was purged, Star opened his eyes and pulled his paw back. "How are you?" Star asked in a serious tone.

"Better," Cosmo replied, taking in a deep breath. "Thank you."

Star was a random dragon. Cosmo realized this dragon had a mix of all sorts of personalities depending on the situation. It was quite strange, but he didn't like him any less.

Star turned towards the black fur dragon, just as serious as before. "Are you okay Isis?"

Isis nodded. "For now, yes."

Star then smiled. "Good." Then the black dragon returned to his carefree personality from before. He hopped up and down twice as he said, "I'm glad you're all alright."

Very strange personality indeed. It made Cosmo chuckle just thinking about it.

"Right," Clover began, relieved that everything was alright for the time being. "Let's hurry then."

They all began to walk toward the tower once more. The closer they got, the more eerie the air became. It definitely wasn't natural.

Eventually, Star had to purge the dark mist from Isis, as well as Yin. It seemed everyone begun to feel the effects of lingering underneath the dark atmosphere. It was unavoidable to have Star purge everyone, but it made Clover worry. The longer they spent, the weaker Star would become. Star was the key to defeating Ismeral Nexis. This wizard was said to use every element, just like Star. It would be nearly impossible to fight the wizard without the fabled dragon.

"Almost there," Myrianda began.

"Yes," Clover quietly added. "Soon, we will have to put our plan into—"

The green scaled dragon was cut off by a small shiny object popping out of the ground in front of him. Whatever it was, it spun in the air for a short second before it begun to slow down.

"What is—?"

He didn't have enough time to finish his sentence before the object blew. The whole area around it became engulfed in electricity, which included Clover and Blaze.

"No!" Spyro called out.

Everyone ran toward them in panic, but it was too late. Clover and Blaze were on the ground, not breathing, and not moving.

Then there was a flash of light, then it begun to happen all over again.

Everyone was walking through the desert just as they did before.

"Almost there," Myrianda began once again.

"Stop!" Yin called out.

Thankfully, they all listened to her. She made sure that Blaze and Clover had stopped as well.

"What is it?" Myrianda asked, eager to know what was wrong.

The white dragoness looked ahead at Blaze and Clover, making them look at each other uncomfortably. "Get back here," Yin demanded. "Now."

"Did you have a vision?" Cosmo quickly asked as Clover and Blaze did what they were told.

Yin nodded. "I don't know what they were, but there is something in the ground. I saw them jump up and explode into a blast of electricity."

"Really now?" Clover began in curiosity.

Yin turned toward Isis, "Isis, can you use your telekinesis and search the ground in front of us for anything?"

The black fur dragon shrugged. "Erm, sure."

She walked ahead a bit, but not much. With her ability, she searched throughout the field in front of her with her mind. She delved into the sands and then hit something solid. Isis wrapped her telekinetic mind around it, then forcefully pulled it out of the sand. Dirt was kicked up as she did so, revealing the object Yin was talking about. Isis made sure to levitate it away from her as she examined it. It was made of metal. Small, round, almost like a ball. Electricity flowed through the object as it pulsated a red color all around it.

"What is this?" Isis questioned in wonder. "Some kind of mine?"

"Great," Clover sarcastically began. "We can't walk through this. So it looks like we should have been flying all along. I just wasted us valuable time."

"Actually," Cosmo began as he hatched an idea. "I've got a plan."

Clover turned toward him with a raised eye, "Plan?"

"Plan!" Star exclaimed, hopping up into the air as he did so.

Cosmo ignored Star for the time being. "Now that we know this is a minefield, then maybe we can put it to good use."

Clover then realized what he was getting at. "Ah, clever."

"So," Cynder began in anticipation. "What's the plan?"

_A Few Minutes Later_

After Cosmo explained his plan to everyone, they put it into motion. It involved Clover's plan as well, just with a bit of a kick. He just hoped most of the dark beings were convexity infected. They were the ones who always seemed to lack proper brains.

"You ready?" Isis asked toward Cosmo, who was hovering in the air beside her.

"Might as well be," he replied.

The two of them were in the air a few yards away from the tower walls, waiting for that distraction. Cosmo had his eye on a lower level window that they were going to have to take. If Ismeral Nexis was at the top floor, it would be foolish to try to break into a window on that floor.

Cosmo kept a close eye on Kali as well. She was down near the entrance of the tower with Spyro, Cynder, Blaze, and Clover. Cosmo's plan involved them being a distraction as well, at least until his plan was set into motion.

"There they are," Isis pointed out.

Cosmo looked, barely making out the dragons in the darkness. The yellow reptile shut his eyes, then opened them back up into a brighter, colorless view. Using his night vision ability, he was able to see Yin and Myrianda much clearer.

They were flying above a pack of dark beings as they chased them from the ground. Cosmo guessed they weren't able to fly. However, he could see a few void infected troops giving them chase through the air, launching fireballs, ice spikes, earth missiles, whatever they could. Yin and Myrianda dodged and focused on luring them to the front gates on the wall.

"That's our cue," Isis calmly said. "Let's get to it."

Cosmo nodded, then followed Isis through the air to the window he saw earlier. They remained ever cautious as they did, making sure they could get there without being spotted. When they got close, Isis and Cosmo stopped behind the wall and peeked over it.

There wasn't much to see. All there was to see was the desert sands between the wall and the tower. No dark beings in this area.

Cosmo pulled himself over the wall and flew over toward the window. It was located a few yards above the base of the tower so it wasn't hard to get to. The stone wall would also keep them covered, to an extent of course.

Before getting to work, Cosmo peeked through the window to see if anyone was watching.

"See anything?" Isis quietly asked, keeping a look-out for any enemies.

"No," Cosmo answered. "Just stairs." He looked upwards a bit before continuing. "Looks like they head straight up to the top."

"Seems a bit barren to be a headquarters for Ismeral Nexis."

"Yeah," Cosmo began, placing a paw on the first bar of the window. There were five of them so it shouldn't take long. He began to pull on it with all of his might, forcing it to bend backwards. "This is tough stuff. But I can get through it."

Meanwhile, Yin and Myrianda just led the dark beings through the gates of the wall surrounding the tower. Spyro, Cynder, Kali, Blaze, and Clover, all waited just outside the entrance. They hugged the wall, keeping hidden as they watched many dark beings rushing out the doorway, blindly following Yin and Myrianda.

"How stupid can they be?" Cynder quietly asked herself.

It didn't take long Cosmo's plan to begin. The first dark being leading the pack was stopped by a mine popping out of the ground in front of him. He stopped to examine the strange, new phenomenon, before it exploded in his face. Three dark beings were caught in the explosion of electricity, almost immediately making them lifeless.

Regardless of what just happened, the other convexity infected troops still marched onwards, despite the fact that the mines would continuously pop and up and explode, killing their comrades.

The void infected troops were smarter than that. Instead of turning back, they decided it was best to charge the two lone dragons in the air before half of their army was defeated.

"They're going to need some help," Spyro suggested.

Without another word, Spyro took charge and flapped his wings, getting himself into the air. The rest were quick to follow.

Meanwhile, Sparx was making sure to do his job. He was hovering at the top floor window, peeking through it. What he saw didn't actually surprise him.

The top floor was mainly barren, but there were a few things which caught his eye. In the middle was a stone pedestal with supports at the bottom, which held a large dark crystal upright. Several symbols decorated the crystal, as well as the stone below it. The crystal also seemed to be pulsating with dark energy.

"Psh," Sparx simply went.

Then he heard some movement over toward his right. He quietly looked, and then saw him. Ismeral Nexis.

Sparx lowered himself, barely peeking over the edge as he spied on the wizard. The human wore a dark blue cloak along with a hood, completely covering himself. It was hard to tell what he looked like.

The human stood in front of something that looked vaguely familiar. He was looking into a large, circular object in the stone floor, filled with greenish liquid. Then the golden dragonfly realized what this was.

Cosmo was having some luck. He already managed to pull two of the steel bars out, dropping them down to the dirt below. The third one was bending backwards and nearly free.

"How much more you got?" Isis impatiently asked, growing more nervous with each passing second. She already heard Cosmo's plan begin earlier.

Cosmo was quiet for a few seconds as he pulled the bar out of the windows hold. He tossed it behind him then replied, "Two more."

A few seconds passed, then Isis saw some company heading around the tower. Isis quickly counted six of them, void infected and flying toward them.

Isis readied herself. "If it is possible, please, do hurry. We got some party-poopers here."

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Cosmo quickly retorted, pulling on the next bar.

"Then I guess I'll have to greet these fellows."

Isis propelled herself forward then activated her ability of dragon time. In her point of view, the colors change to a tint of blue as well as everyone moving a lot slower than normal. With her advantage, Isis rammed the nearest void infected troop. He recoiled in pain slowly as Isis swung her claws toward the dragon, slicing him open along his chest and neck area. Blood escaped his new wounds as Isis backed off, watched the claws of the dark beings slowly pass by where she just was. Before she charged again, she shot a bolt of electricity into the nearest dragon, shocking him as the element jumped to the dragon next to him. It didn't kill them, but it did sap their energy. The black fur dragon charged once more to finish them off before her dragon time ability absorbed her energy as well. With a few quick swipes, the next two dark beings were dead. Only three left.

Isis began to feel fatigue set in. She had to finish them off quickly before her dragon time would be the death of her. The fur dragon switched her elements to earth then fired off an earth missile toward the next dark being. The missile slowly traveled through the air toward its target as the three remaining dark beings slowly fired off their attacks. Slowly, a wave of flames traveled toward her direction. Isis switched her elements once more, then let loose a stream of water toward the fire in front of her. The water was slow to douse the fire, but it surely did the trick.

As the water pushed the fire back, Isis combined the water with electricity, just as her earth missile collided against the dark dragon toward the left. Before the last two dark beings could run, Isis electric water collided against them. It hurt them, but they still pushed themselves on. Isis knew she was in trouble. She needed to kill them with this attack, otherwise she would be wide-open.

Fatigue was definitely making itself known right now. Isis's electric water was beginning to fail. The dark beings were getting closer, readying their final attacks against her.

Then, out of nowhere, a spear of plasma was launched from above at the dark beings. Isis watched as the plasma spear impaled the first dark being, then another spear impaled the next one straight through his chest. The fur dragon let her dragon time go, letting time resume to normal. She observed as the plasma infected their bodies, slowly turning them into the green goo she knew too well. The goo fell as soon as it appeared, all the way down to the ground, along with the other dark dragon's bodies.

Isis looked up and saw a friendly face. "Thanks Star!"

Star showed a smile, "No problem."

Isis watched the black scaled dragon fly back toward the others, blending in with the other dark beings. Very smart move on his part. She turned back toward Cosmo, seeing that he was almost done with his task. She made her back toward him, making sure he was alright.

"Nice one Isis," Cosmo encouraged, pulling out the last steel bar in his way. He tossed it out then poked his head inside the tower.

"I had some help," Isis replied. "So . . . now what?"

"Well," Cosmo began, pulling his head back out. "We need to let the others know the way inside is open."

"No problem," Isis confidently answered back. "I'll see if I can signal them, go ahead inside and make sure it's clear."

Cosmo made a simple nod. He kept a close eye on the fur dragon as she headed off around the tower, then turned toward the window. He poked his head through once more; making sure no one was watching and then carefully climbed through.

It felt tight, but Cosmo got through without a problem. The yellow reptile found himself in a large, tall, circular room. Sturdy wooden stairs traveled along the walls of the room, climbing their way to the top. Cosmo looked down and saw the main entrance of the tower was protected by a heavy wooden door. He noticed it wasn't barred, so he quietly landed on the stairs then made his way down them to change that. Didn't want the dark beings to rush inside after all.

Once Cosmo lowered the thick wooden bar onto the door, he turned back around and headed back upstairs. As soon as he passed the window he broke into, Isis poked her head through it.

"Spyro, Cynder, Kali and Sparx are heading away from the tower to distract them," Isis quietly informed. "They didn't want to get in our way."

"And the others?"

"Losing their new friends," Isis replied as she climbed through the window. "It was easy for me, considering how fast I am."

Cosmo chuckled to himself. "No reason to be a braggart.

Isis finally squeezed herself through the window, landing on the stairs down below it. "Sparx did happen to tell me what he saw though."

Cosmo leaned back on the stone wall behind him, still being as quiet as he could. "Anything we should know about?"

An uneasy grin formed on the fur dragon's face. "Yeah . . . Ismeral Nexis is up there. He may know that we're here."

"Obviously," Cosmo sarcastically remarked. "I'm sure the explosions from the minefield alerted him."

"No," Isis quickly replied, leaning back beside Cosmo. "He knew we were here, even before that. He has a pool of visions up there."

Cosmo sighed. "Figures as much. Guess we weren't taking him by surprise to begin with."

Then another figure poked her head through the window. Yin. She quickly pulled herself through the window, finding herself on the other side rather quickly.

"Stop pushing," Yin complained, flapping her wings to cushion her fall. Then Myrianda poked her head through the window.

"I wouldn't have to if you weren't being so slow," she said, clawing her way through the hole.

Yin rolled her eyes, taking her place beside Isis. Myrianda was soon to follow, but sat beside Yin.

"Some things never change," Cosmo mumbled to himself.

A few, quiet moments passed until the rest of the group came in. Star was first as he got inside rather quickly. Blaze followed, then Clover. They took a moment to rest up and rejuvenate.

"We're going to have to be quick," Clover strongly suggested. "If we take too much time, Spyro, Cynder, Kali and Sparx will become ill with the atmosphere. Star's purging helped repel the atmospheric conditions, but it won't last forever."

"_Kali,_" Cosmo thought. "_I hope you'll be careful._"

"Is everyone ready?" Clover asked one last time.

Everyone was quiet and mostly nervous. This was it. If they failed here, all of dragon kind will become extinct. They couldn't let that happen.

Clover nodded, then looked up the winding staircase. He took the first step forward, then began his ascent, along with the others.

With each step, Cosmo's heart rate increased. He could nearly hear it in his chest, rapidly beating against his ribs as it only became quicker and quicker.

"_Calm down_."

Cosmo recognized that voice in his head. His nerves must have been getting the best of him.

"_Cosmo, you need to stay calm. Take a deep breath._"

The yellow dragon obeyed. Never before had he been so nervous. He took a deep breath in, held it for a moment, then exhaled.

"_Feels a little better,_" Cosmo thought to himself.

"_Now go,_" the voice continued. "_Stay strong, and no matter what happens, stop him._"

Cosmo couldn't ignore it any longer. He had to at least try to answer back to this voice. "_Kaida?_"

He waited for a response as he climbed, but never received one.

"_I really must be going crazy,_" Cosmo continued in his mind.

They were nearly at the top now. Only a few more steps remained until Ismeral Nexis would be revealed unto them. All the dragons looked at each other nervously as they climbed, then Clover stopped as he reached the peak. Taking a deep breath, the green scaled reptile climbed the last bit of stairs to find the last remaining room.

It was just like Sparx described before he left with Spyro, Cynder, and Kali. The room was pretty bland of decorations, but still served a purpose to the evil wizard.

"Welcome," a deep, dark voice emanated from in front of the dragons. "Please, do come in, I've been expecting you."

Slowly but surely, they all made their way up into the room. Cosmo was a bit taken back by his greeting, which only encouraged him to stay on his toes. This was obviously some kind of game of deception.

"So," Clover began, sounding more confident than before. He looked at the dark blue cloaked figure in front of the pool of visions, but still wasn't able to see his face. The cloak covered his head in shadows. "You're Ismeral Nexis."

"Indeed," the wizard plainly answered. It was hard to tell what he was thinking with that tone of voice. "Since you know me so well, then I suppose you know why I am here." Silence filled the room for a short moment, making Cosmo shift uneasily. Isis softly nudged him, letting him know he wasn't alone. "Truthfully, I didn't think you dragons would have the nerve to come to this forsaken twin planet. But, I was wrong. You dragon's never cease to amaze me. Especially when you used my own minefield against my troops. Genius plan Cosmo, you were always one to never give in, no matter what was thrown at you."

Cosmo was a bit taken aback. Ismeral then turned his head toward him. "You were the one to bring the six together. Not an easy task to achieve."

"What are you getting at?" Cosmo spoke questionably, feeling uneasy on how this wizard knew so much about him.

The wizard continued in the same voice as before. It never seemed to change. "I've been watching you. Not easy to deal with the death of a loved one, is it?"

Cosmo growled toward him.

"_Don't listen to him. He's trying to get in your head by breaking you down. Don't let him._"

"No," Cosmo answered. "No, it's not easy. Losing a loved one is the worst thing that can possibly happen to you." The yellow reptile looked around himself, growing more confident by the other six dragons standing around him. "But I've made some new friends along the way. It's the circle of life. One that I'm used to. If you think you can attack me verbally, then you're wrong. It's people like you who corrupt the world. So its people like you who must be put down."

Ismeral Nexis was silent for a moment. He looked down toward the stone below him, then said, "Even if that person . . . was someone you've known for a long time?"

Everyone grew confused by this point, not knowing what he was getting at. Before anyone could even open their mouths to ask, Ismeral Nexis placed his hands on his hood, then pulled it back, revealing his face. The wizard looked back up, then Cosmo's jaw dropped.

"No . . . no way."

The wizard nodded. "We can still fight, but do you have the nerve to kill me? A long lost friend?"

The other dragons had no idea who this was. Cosmo looked around, seeing that all eyes were on him, except for Star's. He had his eyes planted firmly on the wizard, watching his every move.

"It's . . ." Cosmo began, struggling to say the words. "Harris . . . how could you?"


	63. Revelation

Chapter 63

Revelation

It was easy to tell what the others were thinking. Cosmo knew their questions, but was simply too shocked to answer. This man, Ismeral Nexis, was Harris.

"Cosmo?" Isis openly asked, taken aback by the current event. "You know him?"

Cosmo was quiet as he studied the wizard, trying to tell himself it was just a misinterpretation. But no matter how many times he looked at his face, the more he believed that Ismeral was telling the truth.

The room was deathly quiet. Quiet enough for them to hear the winds whistle through the windows. Cosmo felt a nudge on his side, then felt the need to look over. Isis looked upon his face questionably, wondering who this human really was, as did everyone else.

"Go ahead," Ismeral Nexis began, grinning as he did. "Tell them who I am. I will give you time."

Cosmo looked upon Ismeral one more time, seeing that he was actually enjoying the confusion in front of him. The reptile shook his head in disgust. "Harris . . . this man's real name is Harris. He was my friend back on Earth . . . but he died during the war." Cosmo took a moment to take in what he had just said. "How are you here? I saw you die right before my eyes."

Ismeral Nexis chuckled to himself. "In a way, you are correct. I did die. It was horrible, but thankfully, quick. After I died, I saw nothing but pitch black darkness. I knew I was dead, but yet, something beckoned me to walk. As I did, a tall black crystal came into view. As I approached it, another man appeared right before my eyes. His whole body was concealed in black clothing so it was impossible to see his face, though he called himself, Ismeral Nexis."

Everyone looked at one another, still confused. Star, however, still held his firm position, keeping a close eye on the human.

The human wizard was quick to continue. "He only asked me one thing. Live . . . or die."

"And you chose to live?" Cosmo presumed.

"Of course," Harris answered. "Who wouldn't? Although, I must say, I didn't know what I was getting into until I was already here . . . in the dragon realm. Ismeral Nexis granted me his powers and told me he would also give my life back . . . but under one condition. Destroy the council who banished him to this planet."

"Wait a second," Isis began nervously. "Then . . . if you aren't Ismeral Nexis . . . then where is he?"

Harris showed a devious grin. "Here is the interesting part. Ismeral Nexis is actually here, in this very room."

"What?" Yin nearly exclaimed.

Myrianda calmly looked around the room, spotting no other human. "Are you mad? There isn't anyone else here."

"Oh, but there is," Harris began, turning toward the dark pulsating crystal in the center of the room. "Ismeral Nexis is here, but his body is not. He should have died over a thousand years ago, but before he did, he discovered a spell that would bind his spirit to an energy source."

Clover grew wide-eyed in realization. "The crystal?"

Harris nodded. "Of course, Ismeral Nexis is in fact, the source of the crystal's power. He is the one who is in control of it, not me."

"Then it should be simple," Blaze began confidently. "Destroy the crystal, destroy you."

"I'm afraid it won't be that simple," Harris retorted. "If you even crack the crystal, it will detonate in a large explosion. Remember the atomic bomb . . . Steven?"

"Don't call me that," Cosmo quickly replied, angered by that name.

Harris looked Cosmo over, seeing he was getting him riled up. "Imagine that, five times stronger. Cracking the crystal will result in the destruction of this planet, plus everyone who is on it."

"No," Cosmo uttered.

This wasn't fair. No matter how Cosmo looked at it, they were going to die here, regardless of what happened. "_Kali .__ . . I'm so sorry._"

"But," Harris began, hold his shifty grin. "If you were to join us, we would all survive . . . including Kali."

"_NO!_" The voice inside Cosmo's head screamed. "_Don't listen to his lies! You can all get out of there alive if you work __together!_"

"Are you joking?" Clover began. "All we need to get out of here alive is a little luck.

His voice trailed off as he noticed the unexpected happen. Cosmo was taking a few steps forward, away from the group, toward Harris.

"Cosmo!" Isis called out in disbelief. "What are you doing?" 

"I'm saving us all!" Cosmo snapped back.

"_STOP!_" the voice screamed once more. "_Don't do something you'll regret!_"

Cosmo replied back in his thoughts, "_If I don't, then I'll regret being responsible for ge__tting everyone killed._"

"_Will you just think for more than a millisecond before you make a decision?_"

Cosmo continued to walk, regardless of the others calling him back. The yellow reptile blocked them out. It was painful to hear their pleas, but he had no other choice. It had to be done.

_Meanwhile_

"On your left!" Micha called out, dodging a swing from a convexity infected troop.

"Got it!" Torch replied, obeying her direction. He noticed a dark being charging toward him, so the red dragon hurled a fireball toward him, impacting the black dragon directly on the head. The dark dragon was sent flying backwards, landing lifelessly on the stone cold street.

Micha and Torch were out in the main streets of Warfang, still on the search for Cerulean. Although things were beginning to look bleak, the two of them still fought on. They were only a few dark beings roaming the streets, so it was pretty easy to deal with them and move on.

Micha unleashed a swarm of fire onto two dark beings in front of her, suffocating them in the ferocity of her flames. It slowed them down enough so Torch could finish the job with a few quick fireballs. The first dragon was downed by a fireball to his face, the other gotten lucky. Somehow, he dodged Torch's attack, but was caught in the explosion. The blast knocked the dark being down to the ground, dazed by its effect. Before he knew it, Torch jumped toward him with his claws out, and then everything went black in an instant.

"That wasn't so bad," Micha said with relief in her tone. She took a few deep breathes, watching Torch stand to his feet and slowly begin to pace his way toward her.

"Could have easily turned for the worse," he replied, dodging a few dragon bodies on the ground. Most of them were dark being's while others were non-infected citizens. It pained the duo to see sights like this, but they were almost unavoidable to run into.

Micha looked up into the blackened sky, barely able to see the outline of the twin planet in the sky now. "I hope they succeed soon. If we sit out here any longer, we'll be running blind."

Torch nodded. "It's hard enough to see as it is." The red dragon turned and looked down the street as far as he could. It wasn't far, but it looked clear. "Come on, we need to find some shelter."

"But what about Cerulean?" Micha quickly asked, worried about the little dragon.

Before Torch could answer, he heard a noise coming from behind them. As he turned, the reptile spotted a dark being charging toward him without the intention to stop.

With hardly enough time to react, Torch jumped to the side as the dark being's horn nicked his back left leg. Torch felt a rush of pain run through his leg as he quickly stood to his feet, only to see a fireball come out of nowhere. The fireball lit up the street as it collided against the dark being, knocking him for a loop. Before the black dragon could recover, another red dragon revealed himself from the darkness long enough to cut the dragon's neck open with his claws.

Torch and Micha were surprised by the sudden attack, and even more-so toward this new friend of theirs.

"Thanks," Torch called out, approaching the friendly along with Micha.

"Don't mention it," the red dragon replied. Torch noticed that this dragon was nearly red everywhere he looked. "I'm Jaggle."

Jaggle moved away from the dead dark being as the other red dragon introduced himself. "Torch," he simply answered. He looked over toward the pink dragoness beside him, who was examining his wound on his leg. "She's Micha."

"Glad to see some friendly faces for a change," Jaggle greeted in relief. "I was beginning to believe there weren't much of us left."

Micha looked up into the sky as their surroundings slowly grew darker and darker. It was really beginning to worry her.

"Where are you heading?" Torch asked, ignoring the pain in his leg. "Maybe we can come with you."

"Elder Hall," Jaggle quickly answered. "There are several citizens there already. It's being used as a safe-house at the moment, as long as we keep the dark beings from knowing that."

Torch looked over towards Micha, waiting for her approval on the idea. She gave simple but silent nod, letting him know it was okay.

"Actually," Torch began as he looked beyond Jaggle into the darkness behind him. "We were looking for a small toddler by the name of Cerulean. She's small with blue scales. Maybe you have seen her?"

Sadly, Jaggle shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I haven't."

_Meanwhile_

_The Dark Planet_

Isis couldn't believe what she was seeing. She tried to make herself believe Cosmo wasn't doing this, but it was for naught. Cosmo had taken his place beside Harris. This human . . . why was Cosmo taking his side?

"You lot might as well give up," Harris strongly suggested. "I don't want to hurt you, but if it comes to that, I won't hesitate."

"What are you talking about?" Isis barked. "You're helping Ismeral Nexis kill thousands of dragons right now! Are you blind?"

Harris was silent. He turned toward Cosmo, who entreatingly took his place beside the human.

"Cosmo!" Clover called out, angered by his actions. "It's not our fate to aid the enemy! You have to at least try!"

Cosmo turned toward his former companions, seeing utter disappointment in their eyes. "I'm sorry," Cosmo gravely apologized. "But this is the only way."

Isis grit her teeth together in anger. She was about to lash out toward him, but then the fur dragon spotted something peculiar. Cosmo had a faint grin on his face. The yellow scaled reptile looked toward Isis, and then winked.

Then Isis smiled herself. "Fine, have it your way Cosmo. If you want to join him, then you are my enemy."

Before anyone could react, Isis dashed forward toward Harris with her black wings spread outwards in an attempt to intimidate Harris. The human frowned as he quickly held an outstretched arm out in front of him, charging a simple firebomb spell.

"Foolish, you'll die just like the rest of them!" Harris exclaimed, rearing his charged spell back, ready to throw.

"That's where you're wrong!" Cosmo relented.

Harris was taken aback by the sudden outburst from the yellow dragon. Before he could launch his spell, Cosmo launched a fireball toward the human, hitting him directly and knocking him down to the stone below. Cosmo stood over the human in disgust.

"Steven!" Harris called out. "Please! I don't want to kill you."

"Nor do I!" Cosmo replied in a loud tone. "I'm sorry for what happened during the war, but I can't allow you to do this!"

Harris growled in anger. "Fine! I thought my one and only friend would stand by my side! Guess I was wrong!"

Before Cosmo could finish him off, Harris let loose a forceful spell onto Cosmo, launching the dragon across the room. The human stood to his feet and looked over to see six other dragons staring him down.

"It's seven dragons against you," Myrianda boasted. "And one of them is the very dragon who slew Ismeral Nexis all those years ago."

Harris showed a confident grin. "I would take a second look at Star if I were you."

Confused, Isis looked back while the rest kept their eyes on Harris. Star still kept his stare from earlier on Harris. It didn't even look like he budged an inch since they first entered the room.

"Star!" Isis called out.

Harris uttered a deep chuckle in his throat. "Yell all you want, he can't do a thing. He's in a mental lockdown with the crystal."

Cosmo was already up to his feet, but standing toward Harris' side. "What are talking about?"

The human eyed the dragon, expecting more from him. "What happens when you bring shining light into pitch black darkness? Light expels the darkness. They cannot coexist with one another. It's impossible. As of right this very moment, Star and Ismeral Nexis are fighting for dominance in a mental sort of state. He can't hear you, nor can Ismeral Nexis."

"Then we're going to have to crack it," Yin openly suggested, a mild cockiness showing up in her personality.

The human softly brushed his forehead with his thumb, mostly out of eagerness. "You can try. But you're going to have to get through me first."

Before anything else could be said, Harris threw a quickly charged fireball toward the group of dragons. Isis sprayed a stream off water toward the attack, hoping to douse it before it reached them. It would have been easy to dodge, but if Star was hit, then he would be in trouble.

The fireball steamed as water collided against it, rendering the human's attack useless.

Cosmo closed in toward Harris, unleashing his flames toward the human. Without even looking, Harris raised the stone beside him up into a small wall, blocking Cosmo's flames. Yin and Blaze fired off fireballs toward Harris as well, making the human leap off to the side, dodging the blasts they caused. The stone wall the human made fell through the flooring, making a small hole that could be cleanly seen through.

Myrianda quickly took her place by Isis and spread her wings, charging her gamma element. Harris also noticed that Clover and Cosmo were getting closer to him. Before he could react, Cosmo let loose a stream of electricity toward him, striking him in the chest.

But something was wrong; Harris hardly seemed affected by the attack. Cosmo needed more power, so he let in a little fire into his electricity, burning Harris as well.

It still didn't work. Harris still conjured up an ice spike the size of a spell, and then launched it toward Clover. Luckily, it missed the green dragon completely.

Before Clover was too close, Myrianda unleashed a storm of gamma spikes toward Harris. Cosmo ceased his attacked as the gamma impaled the human all over his chest and legs, and then shattered inside his skin, causing even more damage. Somehow, it still didn't seem to affect him.

"_What's going on here?_" Cosmo thought to himself, attempting to figure out why their attacks weren't working.

It didn't even seem like Harris tried to dodge the projectiles. But when Clover closed in toward Harris, the human began to scramble backwards, avoiding the dragon completely. Clover even unleashed a green beam of plasma onto Harris. It collided against him directly, but Harris was more worried about staying away from Clover.

"_Something's not right here,_" Cosmo continued in his mind, firing off an earth missile toward Harris.

The missile rocketed off toward Harris as the human dodged the attack, making the missile collide against the walls of the tower.

Harris grew more than annoyed by Clover, who still didn't cease to stop chasing him around the room. The other dragons made sure to take careful aim with their projectile attacks. Yin fired an ice spike toward Harris, which impacted him in the leg. Or so Yin thought. Somehow it missed, which shouldn't have been possible.

Myrianda fired off a few more gamma spikes toward the human as Harris raised the stone behind him, giving him more time to get away from the green scaled dragon. Harris turned, summoning a lightning bolt in his hand, then let it loose as Clover made his way around the wall. Again, Harris missed. The bolt impacted the ground behind the dragon as Isis launched a lightning bolt herself. The bolt struck Harris quickly, but it still didn't seem to affect him.

Finally, everyone dispersed into different directions. Harris backed himself up toward the wall behind him, unable to keep an eye on every dragon in the room. Before he could do anything, Cosmo leaped from a blind spot, tackling the human to the ground.

Or so he thought.

Cosmo had actually leaped clean through Harris, landing on the other side of the human.

"What the heck?" Cosmo said out loud, stopping his momentum and turning back toward Harris.

"I knew it," Clover simply answered.

Everyone was quiet as Clover slowly walked up toward Harris. The human didn't even bother to stop him. The other dragons watched as Clover was within arm's length of Harris, and then reached out for him with his paw.

His paw went completely through him.

"He's not real," Clover remarkably indicated. "This was why he was running from me."

Harris chuckled to himself. "Of course."

Clover continued as he set his paw back down on the ground. "I noticed when Yin's ice spike went through your leg. You were able to block against energy attacks, but you always dodged the physical attacks. You knew that if you were hit by any physical attack, we would know."

Then Harris showed a deceitful grin. "Then I suppose we'll meet you in person soon enough."

With that, the illusion vanished. Cosmo shook his head in disappointment, "So this was just a trick? To buy Ismeral Nexis time?"

Clover regretfully nodded. "And I'm afraid he succeeded."

"So," Isis began, looking toward the Harris illusion. "Is he really here?"

"No doubt," Clover answered. "He's most likely in the most obvious place he would be."

"And where would that be?" Myrianda retorted.

Clover turned his head toward the dark crystal in the center of the room. "Where else? Inside the crystal."

Myrianda grinned as she made her way toward the object, "Then let's smash it."

"No!" Clover quickly reacted, getting himself in between the crystal and her. "If we destroy it then Ismeral Nexis can escape! If he can bind his spirit to an energy source, he can easily do it again! We have to get inside the crystal and finish him off while we can! It's the only way to truly stop him!"

Myrianda grunted. "Fine, then how do we get inside it?"

Clover sighed, then turned back toward the crystal, scratching his head. "I . . . don't know."

Isis stepped forward toward the crystal, examining the dangerous artifact. "Then what do we do?"

Cosmo was deep in thought about this as well. What Clover said made sense though. If they were to just sacrifice everyone on the planet to destroy the crystal, then Ismeral Nexis would just return one day. If that happened, then this madness would happen all over again.

"_Touching the crystal may be the answer,_" the same voice from before called out in Cosmo's mind. "_Duh._"

Cosmo shook his head. "What if we just touch the crystal?" he mindlessly asked.

Everyone looked at one another, excluding Star, who still had that glazed look on his face.

"Actually," Clover began. "That could work. If the crystal can reach out to Star, no doubt we can put some physical contact to it. Something is bound to happen."

"_Of course it will,_" the voice continued. "_I swear Cosmo; your friends are sometimes as dumb as a bag of __bricks._"

"Alright then," Cosmo began, looking toward the others. "Let's get this over with."

One by one, everyone followed Cosmo's example as he walked toward the crystal until he was inches way. The yellow reptile couldn't shake the eerie vibe the artifact set out as he set his two front paws onto the crystal, using it for support. Cosmo tightly closed his eyes as he heard everyone else doing the same as he was. Then, soon enough, Cosmo felt his mind leave his body.

_Meanwhile_

Spyro, Cynder, Kali, and Sparx still kept a close eye on the dark beings. They made sure to keep their distance from the mob of black dragons behind them, but also made sure to be close enough so they could see them. The purple dragon didn't want to lose the dragons they were distracting after all.

It was easy to stay ahead of them by flight. Any void infected troop that gotten too close were immediately eliminated by the three dragons. Sparx provided the perfect lantern to guide the dark beings away from the tower as well. It seemed they all played a role in this plan.

"I really do hope they're alright," Cynder began, keeping a steady speed with the others. "I saw some fighting in the tower a little while ago."

"Didn't know you had binocular eyes," Sparx replied. "I can barely see the windows from this far away."

Spyro ignored him. "I'm hope they are as well. I know it's not easy to take on such an important task. I wish I could have done more for them."

"I know what you mean," Kali said understandably. "It was hard to leave Cosmo behind, but I knew that I would only be a hindrance. I'm not one of the six like they were, but I'm still glad I was able to help out. Even if it wasn't much."

"Same," Spyro replied.

"What do you mean?" Cynder retorted, butting herself into Spyro. "We did play an important role. If it wasn't for me and you, then Star may not even be here right now. We're the ones who found his egg remember?"

The purple dragon looked behind himself to see a few void infected troops catching up while the runners on the ground were falling behind. Spyro sighed, "We're going to have to take care of the one's behind us."

The three dragons, and dragonfly, slowed themselves down until they hovered a few yards above the cold desert, patiently waiting for them to catch up. It only looked like there were four of them at the moment.

When they were close enough, Spyro was the first to launch an attack. The purple dragon's earth missile cut through the air quickly, heading towards its target without hesitation. The first dark being shot off an ice spike before the earth missile collided against him, sending the dragon down to the ground below.

The ice spike flew right on by the dragon's barely missing Sparx. The dragonfly felt around his body in panic, making sure everything was still attached to their proper places. Sparx then proceeded to take cover behind Kali as Spyro and Cynder noticed a few more void infected troops already on their way.

Another dark being launched a fireball toward Spyro and Cynder, making them fly out of harm's way. As soon as he could, the purple dragon shot a bolt of electricity into the closest dark being. The quick attack struck the dragon in the shoulder, sending jolts through his body. His wings tightened and his muscles spasmed, making the dark dragon fall all the way to the ground below. Spyro was sure he was grounded for right now.

Cynder had her eyes on the remaining two dark beings as they made their way toward her. The black dragoness exploited the use of her shadow element, rendering herself invisible for the time being. The two dark beings, quickly changed targets, then began staring down Kali, who was keeping Sparx safe. Kali took notice, the used her shadow in the form of a breathe attack. Expelling a large shadow cloud in front of her, Kali backed up as the dark beings mindlessly flew straight into the cloud of shadow.

The dark beings growled as their vision was obscured, then heard a faint noise from behind them. As they turned, they met face to face with Cynder's poisonous claws.

Kali watched as both dark beings fell from the cloud, all the way to the ground below. She could see the poison on their bodies as it slowly spread throughout their bodies, quickly but silently killing them. She looked back toward the tower, seeing the dark beings were closer than before. But the worst thing she noticed was several more void infected troops flying toward them.

"Cynder!" Spyro called out. "Poison and electricity!"

The black dragoness grinned. "You got it!"

Spyro charged up his electric attack and then let it fly. It struck as fast as lightening, catching contact with the dark being in the front. Then Cynder pitched in. She utilized her poison, shooting globs of poison into Spyro's electricity. The element soaked in the poison, rendering the yellow electricity into a green, more liquid sort of attack. As soon as Spyro saw his plan was working, he shifted his poisonous electricity and pushed more power into his element, making the electricity jump from dragon to dragon. It didn't take long until the poison infected every one of their bodies.

It didn't stop them from cursing Spyro and Cynder from the distance as they still attempted to fly toward them. But they never made it to them. The poison finished them off before they were close enough to launch one attack.

"Phew," Spyro uttered under his breath. "Glad that's over."

"Let's just hope the others will finish up soon," Cynder said. She took a breather for a few short seconds, then continued. "I don't think Star's purging ability will last much longer on us."

_Meanwhile_

"_It's going to be alright Cosmo . . . I'm here for you._"

"_I know you are. . ._"

Cosmo didn't know if he left his body behind like Star or not, but one thing was for certain. This place he was in was very creepy. He couldn't see anything. It was all black, yet distorted. The yellow scaled dragon could hear noises in the background, but he couldn't make out what it was.

Then the blackness void of the room began to brighten up. The distortion of the room still remained as everything around the dragon changed into a greenish, yet wavy atmosphere. The room seemed to expand until Cosmo could see infinitely, out into the distorted horizon. There was no floor. No ceiling. No walls. It was easy to become disoriented in this strange new world.

It was then when Cosmo saw them. Star and the wizard himself. Ismeral Nexis. They were engaged in combat, launching the elements in any way possible at one another. Star would use fire; Ismeral Nexis would counter with water. The wizard would use electricity; Star would conjure an earth shield around him, grounding out the element. Although they were pretty far away, the yellow scaled dragon could see them clearly.

Cosmo was nearly about to go and help him out, until he saw Harris stepping in front of him.

"Harris!" Cosmo growled. "Where are the others? Why aren't they here with me?"

"Calm yourself," Harris warned. "Anger is not a way to solve this issue."

"Don't toy with me," Cosmo retorted.

Harris deeply sighed. "I wouldn't allow them through. Me and Ismeral are the ones in control of this crystal. We get to choose who comes and who goes. The only reason you are here is because I am going to offer you that choice from before, without the nuisance of your other friends."

"Forget it!" Cosmo spat. "What you're doing is wrong. Out of all people I know, you should know that!"

"Please," Harris pleaded. "You must understand what it is like for me. This is my only chance to live once again. I don't want to hurt you."

Cosmo shook his head. "I'm sorry old friend. I won't regret this decision, but I will wish that the outcome of this conversation would have been different."

Harris grew more than annoyed at this point. "Fine, you want to fight?"

Without a second thought, Harris formed an ice spear in his hand, then quickly threw it toward Cosmo like a javelin. Cosmo dodged as the ice spear impacted the invisible floor then stood to his feet, ready for the final battle.

"Then let's fight!" Harris exclaimed. The human launched another ice spear towards Cosmo, only for the dragon to melt it with fire. "But I promise you that you will be begging for my mercy."

"We'll see about that old friend."

Cosmo charged toward Harris without another thought. It wasn't going to be easy to take down Harris, but the dragon knew he wasn't as experienced as Ismeral Nexis. If he was swift and smart, Cosmo would win.

Harris stretched his right arm out with his palm open. A yellow orb began to form in it as Cosmo unleashed a trail of flames toward him. Harris stretch his left arm outwards, summoning and spraying water toward the flames as he launched the spell in his right hand. The yellow orb took off quickly toward its target. Cosmo conjured up an earth shield, protecting himself from the odd attack. The orb struck the shield then disappeared without a trace. Cosmo guessed it was lightening as he let his shield back down, then summoned up his ice element into the form of spikes. The yellow dragon quickly let the spikes fly, only to have Harris melt them with panicked fire.

Cosmo could tell that Harris wasn't as experienced in the elements as he was. It did appear that he knew a great deal of them, but the dragon guessed that he hadn't done much fighting with them. This was good. Cosmo was going to need all the help he could get.

The human threw both his arms forward in a sloppy fashion, but still used the element he desired. Fear.

The waves of fear struck Cosmo quick, stunning the dragon as he attempted to charge forward. The yellow dragon tried to move, but somehow, it felt as if his whole body was heavier than before. Harris saw an opening, then quickly summoned a few gamma spikes, then let them fly.

Cosmo grew wide-eyed and begun to panic. He tried to move or use an element, but he was still stuck in his spot. The gamma closed in as Cosmo forced himself to move, but it wasn't enough.

From out of nowhere, a green wall formed in front of Cosmo, blocking the gamma from reaching Cosmo.

"What is this?" Harris questioned himself.

The wall disappeared without a trace, revealing Cosmo to be standing on his feet again. Even he didn't know what was going on. Until he heard a voice in his head.

"_Don't worry Cosmo, I'll help you._"

"_Kaida?_"

Without another word, an earth missile formed in thin air behind Harris. As soon as the human turned, the earth missile attacked without warning. Harris had no chance to dodge, thus letting the missile hit his chest with enough force to send him flying back a few feet. Yet, somehow, he landed on his feet.

"Well well well," Harris uttered. "Looks as if this won't be so easy now."

Cosmo growled, not wasting his time talking. Instead, he focused on what to do, now that Kaida was with him. Somehow, she was here. No one could see her, yet, she was throwing attacks at Harris.

Harris quickly dodged another earth missile that was fired upon him, then turned toward Cosmo. The human showed a slight grin as he raised both of his hands in the air, charging another spell. A green ball of energy formed as Cosmo took this chance to attack with ice. Several icicles were fired from Cosmo, heading straight for the human as he charged his attack. One of them even hit.

The human grimaced as he felt a cold pain enter his leg. Not letting it get the best of him, Harris threw his arms back, then pushed them forward, letting his spell loose.

Cosmo made a run to the side as a beam of plasma chased him around the room. The dragon kept his eyes on the deadly beam that was on his tail. He began to flap his wings, attempting to get airborne, but somehow, he couldn't. Cosmo didn't know how, but something was keeping him grounded.

Just as the beam was nearly on top of him, Cosmo got the break he needed. Another earth missile formed out of thin air, then took off for Harris. The plasma beam immediately changed course for the missile, melting the attack before it got to him. When he looked back to where Cosmo was, he found the dragon leaping for his face.

The yellow dragon kicked Harris off his feet and onto the invisible ground below. The human grew annoyed as Cosmo jumped on top of him, ready to end this unforeseen battle.

"Don't make me kill you Harris!" Cosmo exclaimed.

"Too bad!" Harris retorted. "I've made my decision! If you are going to kill me! Then do it!"

That was it. Cosmo didn't want to hear it, but unless he wanted to join him, then he was going to have to obey.

But it seemed his hesitation got the best of him. Just as Cosmo was about to finish him off, Harris had gotten a free hand underneath Cosmo and unleashed a force spell. The spell knocked Cosmo back long enough for Harris to get to his feet once more.

"Let's see how well you fare when I have my guard up," Harris grunted.

The human's hands begun to glow a silver light as he waved them all around himself. Cosmo immediately ran after him and let out the hottest of flames he could. Harris grinned, then cast his spell.

A great wind formed around Harris, then expelled into all directions. Cosmo clawed into the invisible ground below, barely able to keep himself standing. The dragon closed his eyes, hoping everything would be alright when he opened them.

A few seconds later the winds ceased to exist. Cosmo slowly opened his eyes and saw things had taken a turn for the worst.

Somehow, Harris had transformed himself into a pitch black humanoid, three times larger than before. Black smoke exited his body as he opened his eyes to reveal them to be blood red.

"_No,_" Cosmo said in his thoughts, unable to believe what he was looking at.

The black humanoid shape in front of the dragon begun to deviously laugh at his success. "You will not leave this place alive!" His voice boomed in a loud tone, sounding distorted as it did so.

"_Harris . . . what have you become?_"

"_Cosmo,_" the voice begun in the dragon's mind. "_Don't worry. We can do this. He still has the same powers just as he did before. He's just trying to intimidate you."_

"This is your last chance Steven," the shadow began, voice still as distorted as before. "Surrender . . . or die."

Cosmo swallowed the lump in his throat. His nerves were beginning to get the better of him now. Never before had he seen such a vile creature. He didn't even realize he was shivering and holding his breath.

"_Cosmo,_" the voice said once again.

Then Cosmo felt something on his shoulder. He looked and saw nothing, but he knew something was there. Somehow, it made him feel a bit better as if he weren't alone.

Yes . . . no doubt this was her. She was here with him, fighting for freedom of others.

"_Right,_" Cosmo thought. "_I'm ready when you are._"

The dark creature spoke once again, "Life . . . or death?"

Cosmo looked up to Harris with a renewed vigor. He grinned confidently as he gave his answer. "You can take that invitation and shove it where the sun doesn't shine Harris. My answer is final."

"Fine," the shadow deeply threatened. "Your death."

The shadow lifted his foot, then heavily stomped the ground. The ground shook as shadows seeped through invisible cracks, clouding the area and making visibility lessoned.

"_I'll go around and distract him, take him out when you see the chance._"

Cosmo nodded and silently waited, using his ears to his advantage. It wasn't going to be easy. Fighting never is.

Then Cosmo saw him. The shadow appeared, wielding a massive, blackened sword. Surprised, Cosmo dodged to the side as the sword horizontally came down crashing where he just stood. The yellow dragon quickly stood to his feet, firing off a fireball in the process. The fireball traveled through the air toward its target, only to be blocked by the black sword the shadow wielded.

Former Harris pointed the sword towards Cosmo, then the dragon noticed the sword was beginning to ripple with dark energy. Cosmo realized that he was about to attack, so he quickly threw up an earth shield in front of him, just as the shadow unleashed a fury of convexity bullets onto Cosmo's shield. The dragon concentrated on keeping his shield up as bullet after bullet collided against it, slowly breaking the dragons' will.

Then they suddenly stopped. Cosmo peeked around his shield to see several earth missiles forming and firing at the dark monster. That was when Cosmo saw his chance.

The yellow scaled dragon charged forward, launching fireballs, icicles, and earth missiles as he did so. The attacks struck their target dead on, inflicting some damage onto Harris as he swung his massive sword toward the invisible dragon launching the earth missiles at him. Then the shadow turned and saw Cosmo.

Visibility was beginning to clear up as the smoke slowly dissipated in the air. Cosmo saw the shadow swing his sword toward Cosmo, launching a large fireball from the tip of it as he did so. Cosmo evaded off to the side, trying his best to escape. But as the fireball landed, it exploded just behind the dragon, knocking Cosmo off his feet.

"_Cosmo!_"

Cosmo staggered to his feet as the shadow begun to step closer to him. As he begun to walk, the dragon felt something brush up against his side. He looked over, only to be surprised at what he saw.

Kaida was there. Cosmo could see clean through her as if she was a ghost or in some spectral form . . .but she was there.

Without a word, she reached out with her paw, offering it to Cosmo.

"Cosmo," Kaida spoke out loud. It wasn't in his mind like before. "Our attacks aren't affecting him, just teasing him off. I'm afraid I don't have that much energy left to stay around, so you must take my other element."

Other element? Cosmo didn't know what she meant, but he wasn't one to disobey a close friend. He reached out with his paw, grabbing onto Kaida's without second thoughts. It surprised Cosmo even more when he could actually feel her, almost as if she was physically there with him.

Then there was a light. The shadow stopped in his tracks as he was forced to look away. The blinding light expanded, covering the whole area and cleaning whatever dark clouds that lingered in the area.

"The element of light is at your disposal Cosmo," Kaida happily informed.

Cosmo was wide-eyed as he felt the element enter his body. Kaida really must have been watching him over the past if she knew Cosmo had the ability to steal other's elements like this. Soon the light begun to shimmer and dim back down, revealing the distorted world he was in before.

But Kaida was gone. He was on his own.

The shadow roared thunderously as Cosmo looked up at him. The power of light against the power of pure convexity. Cosmo knew his ability would only let him keep the element for a limited time, so he would have to be quick.

Former Harris swung his darkened sword horizontally toward Cosmo as he began his charge toward the side. The dragon evaded the attacked as he circled around his enemy, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Cosmo saw the shadow send the element of convexity through his sword, then slashed through the air toward Cosmo. A sharp, flat, wave of the element cut through the air, destined to catch the dragon in its destruction. Cosmo leaped up, jumping over the attack and landed on his feet to continue his run. It was now or never.

The yellow scaled dragon turned just as the shadow realized what he was about to do. Cosmo felt the element of light beginning to charge in his body just as the shadow began to raise his sword, charging his own spell of convexity. He knew there wasn't going to be much time now.

Cosmo turned, spread his wings, and let the element loose. Light formed on Cosmo body as it was expelling through his wings into one intense beam. The white beam of light sped toward the shadow, just as the enemy let his attack loose. Several large orbs of convexity exited the shadows' body as Cosmo's attack collided against him. The shadow felt all the air in his lungs escape as the attack cut into his chest. Cosmo took notice of the shadow's four dark orbs heading his way, but didn't let up his attack. He had to put all his energy into it while he had the chance, regardless of what would happen.

With one final push, Cosmo relentlessly poured into his attack, daring not let up for one second. The dragon could just feel the element of light pushing through Harris' body.

The shadow yelled out in pain as Cosmo's light pierced through his body. The dragon didn't want to look at how close those orbs were to him. He knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant sight.

Finally, Cosmo began to feel fatigue in his body. He still pushed on as the shadow yelled once more until it happened. The orbs collided against Cosmo, exploding on his body, painfully knocking him a few feet back. The dragon tumbled onto his side and left his gasping for breath, definitely in pain. Cosmo gazed over toward Harris, seeing a massive hole in his chest that his light had caused.

The shadow knelt down on his knees, using his sword for support, breathing heavily as he did so. Cosmo could tell he had caused a lot of damage to him. He just hoped it was enough.

"Steven!" the shadow yelled out.

Cosmo clenched his paws, clawing his way to turn himself for a better view. What he saw made him wish he never looked. The shadow was crawling towards the dragon with the same grudge from before.

"_Crap,_" Cosmo thought to himself. "_I hoped that would have ended him._"

"You won't get out . . . of here alive!"

This was it. Cosmo was only able to slightly move. His attack drained his energy and those convexity orbs drained it even further. Barely standing to his feet, Cosmo began to wobble the other direction, doing whatever he could to evade the wounded shadow.

Cosmo looked back, then noticed something peculiar. The shadow was beginning to grow brighter. The dragon wondered what this phenomenon was, hoping it was nothing but good news for him.

The shadow threw his sword downwards, just missing Cosmo's tail by inches. The dragon felt the air from the swing as it collided against the invisible ground, which only let him know to go faster. When the shadow lifted his sword once more, he cried out in pain as his body began to grow even brighter. Not wanting to stick around, Cosmo flapped his wings to help himself forward.

Without warning, the shadows' sword flew through the air, heading for Cosmo. The dragon threw himself to the ground and folded his wings over his head, praying to whoever was listening to give him a break. The sword itself flew by the dragon just missing his horns by inches. The weapon bounced harmlessly bounced ahead as Cosmo peeked through his wings, sighing in relief. When Harris begun to scream out in pain, Cosmo forced himself to look back, only to become blinded by a pure white light. He closed his eyes as he continued to hear Harris' screams, which only began to sadden him. This was not how he wanted this to end, but it was inevitable.

A few short moments passed and then the light dissipated, letting Cosmo open his eyes to observe what had just happened. What he saw surprised him. Harris was in his human form, but he was lying on the ground not too far away. It didn't look like he was moving.

"Harris!" Cosmo called out, slowly making his way toward him.

He didn't know whether this was a foolish idea or not, but he had to see what became of his old friend. Soon, Harris begun to cough on the ground as Cosmo neared him. The dragon didn't notice any physical wounds on him, but the humans' face illustrated a painful look for him to see.

"Steven," Harris weakly began as the dragon laid down beside him. "Why?"

Cosmo shook his head, "Harris . . . what you were doing was wrong. I couldn't let you destroy an entire civilization of dragons just win Ismeral Nexis' trust."

Harris coughed. "I had to. Steven . . . I needed to do it. Fighting for what I believed in is what I was raised for."

"But is this what you were raised for?" Cosmo calmly questioned. "Harris . . . you were helping an evil wizard destroy thousands of innocent lives. I missed you Harris . . . I really did. But this? This is not what I would have expected from you."

Harris looked at Cosmo questionably. "And what would you have expected from me?"

Cosmo smiled. "I would have expected you to do the right thing."

Harris was quiet. He was unable to move his body, so he shifted his head toward the distant battle between Ismeral Nexis and Star. It was almost impossible to tell what they were doing from this distance though.

The human looked back at the dragon beside him, realizing his mistake. "I'm sorry Steven. I should have seen it, but my selfishness gotten itself in my way. But . . . I can change. I will Steven." Harris coughed once more, but this time it was his own blood. "You can count on that."

Then, just like that, Harris was gone. Cosmo closed his eyes, staying silent toward his old forgotten friend. It pained the dragon to do something like this to his old forgotten friend, but even Harris realized why it had to be done.

Cosmo opened his eyes back up, only to see Harris' body was missing. It didn't surprise him. This place wasn't natural after all. The dragon turned toward the battle in the distance, then began to walk towards it.

"Cosmo!"

The dragon froze. He turned around as he quick as he could, despite his injuries, only to see the friendliest faces he ever hoped to come across in such a dreaded place.

"_Harris . . ._" Cosmo began in his thoughts. He looked at the other five dragons that stood in front of him. Isis, Yin, Myrianda, Blaze, and Clover, all ready for the final battle against Ismeral Nexis. "_Thank you Harris._"

The human must have let them in before he died. The dragon smiled, knowing that in the end, Harris ended up doing the right thing.


	64. The Final Battle

Chapter 64

The Final Battle

"Where is he?" Isis nervously asked, looking around herself as she did. "Where's Harris?"

Cosmo shifted his gaze downwards. "He's gone," he simply answered.

Everyone looked at one another as if they were reading each other's thoughts. But there would be time to question it later. They had more important matters to attend to at the moment.

"Right," Clover confidently began. "Let's go and help Star. With the six of us, plus him, Ismeral Nexis shouldn't stand a chance against us."

The six of them silently agreed with each other. Cosmo turned and quickly led the crowd toward Star and Ismeral Nexis, breaking out into a full run. The others were closely following the yellow dragon, making sure the stick to him in case the wizard had a trick up his sleeve.

As the group finally approached the intense battle, Cosmo was suddenly knocked back off his feet. The rest of the dragons quickly stopped, wondering on what had just happened. Isis helped the yellow reptile back up to his feet as he groaned by the blow he just took.

"What just happened?" Cosmo asked aloud.

Clover raised an eyebrow as he slowly walked forward. With each slow step, he kept an outstretched paw in front of him. Everyone carefully watched until Clover's paw came into contact with an invisible wall that rippled upon touch. The green scaled dragon sighed as he set his paw back down onto the hidden ground below.

Clover sighed as he turned back toward the others. "Looks as if we won't be helping Star after all." Before anyone could ask, he continued, "Ismeral Nexis must have foreseen our arrival. It looks as if he set up a force field to protect himself from us."

"But why would he let Star through?" Myrianda asked as she watched the battle up ahead.

"Simple," Cosmo began. "Ismeral Nexis doesn't want Star to get in his way. So he let him in so he could kill him."

"Exactly," Clover regretfully agreed. "All we can do now is watch."

Isis raised an eye, "Well that's going to be difficult."

Cosmo nodded as he looked over toward the battle. Isis was right. It was going to be more than hard to just watch and unable to do a thing if things go south for Star.

_Meanwhile_

Torch hated to enter the Elder Hall without Cerulean, but he had no other choice right now. It was nearly pitch black outside due to the growing planet in the sky. If it weren't for the torches on the walls, it would have been impossible to navigate the building.

The temperature outside was also dropping due to the absence of the sun's rays. At the moment, the only heat source was the torches on the walls and the dragon's fire.

Torch, Micha, and Jaggle walked the halls of the building, heading towards one of the many rooms in the back. It wasn't hard to find their way through the building. The trio quickly found the room they were looking for.

The room they looked into was a bit large and contained a few beds near the back wall. In between those beds were bookshelves filled with all sorts of different books to read, although no one seemed interested in them at the moment. A red velvet rug decorated the stone flooring as the fireplace toward the right of the room crackled, letting out a dim light for everyone in the room.

It didn't surprise Torch when he found the room to be a bit crowded with dragons of all sizes. It actually made him happier than before. He didn't expect there to be this many survivors in the room.

"Glad you could make it."

The voice startled Torch a little. He quickly reacted by looking over toward his left to see a large white dragon, bigger than the rest of the occupants of the room.

The white dragon chuckled. "I apologize for startling you."

"It's alright," Torch replied, smiling at the matter. "How is everyone doing Ignitus?"

The large dragon's grin slowly disappeared as he looked all over the room. He saw nothing but worried looks upon their faces. "We're safe. That's all that matters."

Micha silently took her place beside Torch as Jaggle made his way over toward the fireplace to warm himself up. The pink dragoness looked up toward Ignitus with slight anticipation. "So what do we do now?"

_Meanwhile_

He noticed the six were watching him. But he couldn't pay any attention to them right now. Ismeral Nexis must be stopped and the planet must be destroyed, no matter the cost. That was the sole reason why he was here.

"The council will pay for what they have done to me!" Ismeral Nexis yelled in an angered fashion.

The wizard formed two ice spears in both his hands and quickly threw them toward Star. The dragon simply melted them with his fire before they even reached him.

"They betrayed me!" the wizard continued, throwing several more ice spears toward Star.

The dragon growled as he dodged the attacks by leaping out of harm's way. Star quickly scrambled to his feet and fired a fireball toward the wizard, only for him to block it with an earth shield.

"Everyone will soon learn the power of the element I discovered. I won't allow such ability to just be forgotten!"

The wizard raised his right hand in the air, then it begun to spark with electricity. Star heard some crackling above his head, forcing him to glance upwards. When he did, the black scaled dragon quickly formed an earth shield overhead as he ducked. No sooner as he did, a lightning bolt struck the top of the shield three times before it stopped. The booming sound of thunder was quick to follow, nearly deafening the dragon.

Star lowered his shield and countered with an unexpected element. The black dragon spread his wings as bullets of convexity formed in front of him. Within the second, Star let the projectiles loose. The bullets of convexity collided against Ismeral Nexis quickly as the wizard formed a light shield in front of him. The see-through wall rippled with as the rest of the bullets collided against it, destroying the bullets as well as protecting the wizard. As soon as the last bullet was gone, Ismeral Nexis let the shield down.

"You're foolish if you think you can defeat me with convexity," the wizard grinned.

Ismeral Nexis threw his hands forward as several large green rocks formed out of thin air. Star realized this was earth. The dragon quickly spread his wings once more, charging up a defensive measure before Ismeral let the rocks fly. The green rocks slowly rose higher into the sky, then the wizard threw them forward.

Star let his charged attack go, letting loose a massive blizzard in front of him. The icy winds of the element quickly slowed the large rocks in mid-air; forcing them to fall short of their target. As they collided against the ground, the frozen rocks shattered into pieces. Ismeral Nexis was beginning to grow annoyed by now. Before Star could counterattack, Ismeral charged up two different elements in both of his hands. Star made himself look upon the wizard to see what he was up to. Then he noticed a dark energy pulsating in his right hand and a pinkish sort of color pulsating in his left. The black dragon realized what element these were. Gamma and convexity.

Star quickly formed a shield of light in front of him just as Ismeral Nexis let his combined attack fly. A dark purple spear flew from the wizard's hands, straight into the center of Star's newly conjured shield. The attack impaled halfway through Star's wall of light before stopping merely inches away from the dragon's eye. Star backed off as the spear shattered itself, causing Star's shield to ripple as it soaked in the damage. Before it drained too much of his energy, Star let his shield back down. While he had the chance, Star let out an earth missile toward the wizard. The quick attack nearly caught the wizard off guard as he skillfully dodged with a side-flip. Still in mid-air, the wizard launched a few gamma needles toward Star. The black dragon growled as he was forced to run to the side, avoiding the needles from impaling his scales. The needles followed the dragon as he evaded, but Star still managed to lose the needles, making them fly off into different directions.

"I've grown tired of your arrogance!" the wizard cried out, throwing a fireball toward Star in the process.

Star leaped ahead into a roll, avoiding the fireball's blast as he did so. As soon as he was back to his feet, Star turned and began to charge toward the wizard, surprising him. Before he could do anything, Star jumped him with his claws out.

Ismeral Nexis felt his breathe escape his lungs as he fell backwards onto the ground. The wizard noticed Star's poisonous claw was rearing back, so he decided to improvise. Ismeral formed his right hand into a fist and punched the dragon across the jaw. It knocked Star into a daze as the wizard kicked the dragon off himself. As soon as he was free, Ismeral Nexis stood to his feet and aimed an open palm toward the dragon on the ground. Star looked up, seeing a dark energy beginning to charge in the wizard's hand, then went looked down toward his legs. Perfect.

With his poisonous claw, Star went for his target. Ismeral grew wide-eyed as he realized how vulnerable he was. Before he could react, he felt Star's claws rake his legs. Ismeral Nexis grimaced toward the pain as he let his attack loose upon the dragon. An orb of convexity was formed in front of the wizards hands then took off toward the dragon in front of him. Star attempted to back off, but didn't have enough time as the orb collided against his body. The force of the attack sent Star flying back a few feet, but he still stayed on his feet.

"You will pay dearly for that!" Ismeral Nexis spat. The wizard looked down toward his leg, seeing the poison was beginning to spread through his body.

Star knew the wizard could purge the poison from his body. Healing spells were rare, but Star was confident that the human could use them to his will. He had to stop him.

The black dragon charged forward once more with confidence. If he could distract him long enough, the poison would weaken the wizard. Then that would be his chance to put an end to this once and for all.

Ismeral Nexis looked up in annoyance as the dragon let out a cry of fear toward him. The waves hit the human, but they hardly affected him. It only seemed to slow his movements enough for Star to close in on him. But Ismeral didn't seem intimidated by the move as he raised his hands up above him; utilizing his electricity into some kind of shield. Electricity surrounded the human just as Star swung his poisonous claws toward him. Before he could pull back, the electricity reached out from the wizard's shield, shocking Star in the process. The dragon forced his body to move backwards, escaping the shield's reach.

Star recovered from his daze the electricity gave him and noticed the wizard was beginning to use a spell on his leg. Desperate to stop him, Star quickly mustered the energy and fired off a plasma beam toward Ismeral. The beam cut through the wizard's electric shield in no time. Before the wizard could react, the beam collided against him. Ismeral attempted to raise an earth shield, but Star forced more power into the attack, knocking the wizard for a loop.

Stopping the attack before it could drain too much of his energy, Star rushed over toward the wizard as he slowly stood to his feet. The dragon stopped a few feet away from the wizard as he looked him over. It seemed his cloak was enchanted; otherwise that beam would have turned him into goo.

"You really are an annoyance to my plans," the wizard began, beginning to feel the effects of the poison in his body.

It was working. The poison was weakening the wizard. But Star knew better than to say it was a victory now.

Star spread his wings and ushered forth his ice element. The wizard grumbled under his breath as he conjured an earth shield in front of him as Star sprayed a ferocious storm of icicles unto the shield. He didn't stop there. The dragon knew better than to know that this was all Ismeral had. So Star pushed his elemental fury even further by combining his icicles with plasma.

The light blue icicles quickly changed from their color to a light green color. The icicles left a trail of plasma in the air as they quickly shot off toward the shield, impacting the seemingly impenetrable wall. The shield slowly began to change its color as well as showing signs of freezing. It only took a few moments for the earth shield to freeze. No sooner than it did, the plasma began to get to work by melting the now frozen shield. Then Star saw his chance when he spotted a breach in the shield. The dragon couldn't see what Ismeral was doing inside, but he had to put a stop to it.

With careful aim, Star launched a fireball straight for the growing hole in the shield. The fireball arced upwards slightly as it headed straight for its target, falling right into the hole. An explosion soon followed, shattering the shield from the inside-out, as well as causing some damage to the wizard. Star was sure of that.

After the explosion subsided, the wizard revealed himself to still be standing on his feet. The poison was still in his body as well, which caused Star to grin.

"You think you're smart?" the wizard coughed. "I won't lose!"

Ismeral Nexis desperately threw a large fireball toward Star. The dragon took off toward the side, but the fireball collided against the ground behind him. Star felt the force of the explosion behind him as he was forcefully sent forward. The dragon fell head over heels, tumbling into a roll. Luckily it didn't cause that much injury, due to the attack being quickly charged and thrown.

Star quickly stood to his feet and looked over toward the wizard, only to see him charging another attack. The dragon carefully watched the wizard's movements as he reared his hand back, ready to throw the elemental spell. As soon as he could, Ismeral Nexis pitched the spell forward, revealing it to be an earth missile. Star quickly leaped up and out of the way, firing a bolt of electricity toward the wizard in the process. The attack quickly jolted the wizard, but his cloak soaked in most of its energy.

Just as Star tumbled into a roll to break his fall, the dragon noticed a flicker around him. He then looked over toward Ismeral to see him holding his leg in pain. The poison must have been getting the better of him. It wouldn't be long now.

Grumbling under his breath, Ismeral ignored his pain and focused more on Star. With a flick of his wrist, a couple of gamma needles formed in the space in front of the wizard. Star kept on his toes as the wizard sent the needles flying through the air toward him. The dragon ran off toward the side, attempting to avoid the needles instead of using his energy to form a shield. At least until he ran headfirst into an earth wall, formed by the wizard himself. Seeing as he had no choice, Star quickly formed a shield of light behind him as quick as he could. He thought he had blocked all the needles until he felt a sudden rush of pain in his back leg.

The black dragon forced himself to look, only to see a gamma needle had impaled his leg. Before he could do anything, the needle shattered underneath his scales, causing even more pain. Star clenched his teeth and grit them together as he let his light shield back down.

Ismeral Nexis didn't seem content with just leaving it like that. The wizard was still destined to destroy this dragon, no matter what he had to do. Just as he was about to attack once more, Star noticed he was beginning to clench. His surroundings flickered once more making Star realized what that actually meant. The shield the wizard had placed was beginning to fade due to the poison weakening his body. If it were to fade long enough for the six to get through . . . .

Star didn't think about it much longer. He simply went on the offensive while he had the chance. Quickly, he mustered the energy to use the element of light. Manipulating the element into the shape of a spear, Star conservatively aimed for the wizard. Just as the wizard looked back up, the dragon let the spear go.

Ismeral Nexis grew surprised as he threw himself to the side, hoping to avoid the attack. He would have, but somehow, the spear acted as if it had a mind of its own. Changing course, the spear turned itself and impacted Ismeral's leg. The wizard felt the elemental energy thrust through his leg, sending a jolting pain through his body. If it weren't for his enchanted cloak, Star was sure it would have crippled him.

The spear of light slowly disappeared from the wizards wound. It left a hole, which blood seeped through, but Ismeral was determined that it wasn't going to stop him.

Then he saw them. The six spirit guardians had broken through his shield and were heading his way. Ismeral cursed their abilities. Telekinesis must have controlled that light spear. There was no other explanation.

"I suppose this means I have to stop toying with you," the wizard begun, ignoring the pain in his body. Slowly, he stood to his feet as the other six dragons approached Star's side. "This time . . . I won't hold back."

Before anyone could do anything, Ismeral Nexis yelled out loud as he threw his arms around, almost as if he were performing some sort of crazed ritual. Just as Star began to charge another light attack, the wizard threw his arms forward, letting out an intense convexity field that surrounded his body. The dark, see-through wall quickly expanded, charging through the dragons as it did so. Star felt the attack push his body back, as well as causing some pain in him. He was fine, though he could almost feel the others were a bit more dazed.

Star knew what the wizard did. A simple force spell combined with the element of convexity. He didn't think it was possible to combine an element with a spell, but now he knew better.

"Everyone alright?" Isis asked out loud, hoping for the best. She looked around herself a quick second, seeing everyone was on their feet and alright.

The fur dragon looked back forward toward the wizard, only to see Blaze launch a fireball toward him. The wizard was quick to evade. It seemed as if his previous injuries didn't even exist anymore. As soon as he was out of the fireball's blast radius, he counterattacked with a larger fireball. Everyone scrambled as the fireball struck the same spot they were just on seconds ago, causing a larger explosion than Blazes'. Luckily, everyone escaped the blast without any injury.

Cosmo was first to counter. He chose to fire an earth missile toward the wizard, which he dodged with an acrobatic side-flip. Yin launched a flurry of ice spikes toward the wizard as soon as she could, only to have an earth shield form in front of the wizard to block her attack. It quickly lowered back down to reveal the wizard had formed a glob of poison in the palm of his hand. As soon as he threw it, Isis used her water, spraying the poison in the air, slowing it down. When the attack landed short, Isis turned toward the wizard, still in use of her water. Ismeral looked toward his attacker then, without thinking, shot a quick lightning bolt into the stream of water, which already gotten him wet. Ismeral's attack jolted the water, which sent the current of electricity straight back at Isis. The fur dragon was too late to cease her attack, thus ended up feeling electricity enter her body through her own water.

Ismeral had also gotten shocked by his own attack, but his cloak absorbed most of the damage. As he turned toward the other dragons, he noticed Myrianda was charging toward him with her horns lowered. The wizard braced himself as the pink dragoness closed in. When the timing was right, he grabbed the dragoness' horns. Feeling the shock in his elbows from the blow, the wizard sent electricity through his hands, shocking Myrianda through her horns. Wildly blowing fire toward the wizard, Myrianda endured the pain as she clawed into the invisible ground, trying to pull her horns out of the wizards grip. Before she could succeed, the wizard sent even more volts through her body, regardless of the flames that smothered him. Ismeral then threw Myrianda off to the side with all his strength, sending her flying a few feet away.

Blaze growled, then spread his wings, sending waves of madness toward the wizard. Before they could reach him, Ismeral yelled at the top of his lungs as he performed a spell, which greatly amplified his voice. The massive noise grounded out the waves of madness, as well as cause the remaining dragons to cover their ears from the ridiculous volume.

Cosmo couldn't hear anything. His ears rung as he looked up toward the wizard to see him stepping closer toward them. The wizard raised his right hand in the air, then utilized the ice element to form a small short-sword in his hand. Cosmo grew wide-eyed as Ismeral headed toward Blaze, who was still holding his ears from the recent screech.

The yellow scaled dragon jumped forward, opened his mouth, then exhaled a wave of flames unto the wizard. Just as Ismeral begun to swing his sword horizontally, the flames smothered him, as well as his ice sword. It only took a second for it to melt into water.

Ismeral grit his teeth toward the dragon. "You will be the one to die first."

In a flash, Ismeral Nexis speedily sprinted toward the dragon with his right arm reared back. Before he could react, Cosmo was knocked to the side with a powerful punch to the side of his cheek. The dragon rolled into a stop. He shook the pain away as he looked back toward the wizard, only to see a plasma spear forming a few feet in front of him. The dragon threw his down, just as the spear was launched toward him, missing his head by inches.

When Cosmo brought his head back up, he saw Yin had engaged the wizard by combining ice and wind. The sudden attack caught Ismeral off-guard as he bared the icy wind. He brought his hand forward in an attempt to use fire, but somehow, the element wouldn't obey his command. He then realized that this particular dragon had a cancellation ability.

Before he could change elements, Blaze appeared beside him out of thin air. Ismeral swung his arm, hoping to knock the dragon with his fist, only to have Blaze dodge then leap for him. With a dragon snarling in his face, Ismeral realized he had no other choice but to fall back to his last resort.

The ground rumbled as Cosmo stood to his feet. He unsteadily looked over toward Isis and Myrianda to see them up and on their feet as well, wondering the same as him. Before he could figure it out, the answer showed its ugly head.

A black rift began to form in the middle of the area everyone occupied. Cosmo grew wide-eyed as he saw Ismeral kick Blaze off himself to get to his feet. As soon as he did, the vacuum began to grow stronger.

"Run the other way!" Clover desperately shouted out.

Cosmo didn't have to be told twice. He turned and started to run with all his might. Star was beside him, having the same amount of trouble as he was.

"How do you stop the void?" Cosmo called out toward Star, hoping he would have some clue.

The black dragon looked at him worriedly. "You hope the user runs out of energy!"

That was it then. There was nothing they could do. Cosmo's heart rate sped up even faster the more he ran. But what was the point? Ismeral Nexis must have had a ton of energy left. If that were true then all seven dragons would run themselves to death before the rift would fade.

The black hole began to grow stronger. Cosmo turned his head back, only to see everyone was still running for their lives. Blaze was the one who had the worst of it. He was closest to the black rift. Ismeral Nexis stood off toward the side with his hands up toward the void, keeping control of it.

Then the yellow dragon hatched an idea.

Cosmo looked back toward Star. "How does the user avoid being sucked into his own void!"

Star looked at him questionably. "It's almost like a secondary effect of the void! The user must keep control of it; otherwise it would turn against him!" Then the dragon grew wide-eyed. "No! It's too risky!"

The yellow dragon shook his head, "We don't have another choice! I'm the only one with a clear shot! I have to!"

Cosmo stopped his run and clawed into the invisible ground. He turned his head as the rift began to suck him in. The dragon made sure to keep himself grounded with his claws as he turned his whole body.

"Cosmo!" Blaze exclaimed. "Are you crazy!"

Cosmo showed an unusual grin as he took aim at the wizard. "If I weren't then we would all be dead by now!"

Then the dragon jumped. Every dragon turned their heads to see the Cosmo fly through the air with his wings outstretched to slow himself down. Isis was shocked. Clover blinked his eyes a few times. Myrianda couldn't believe what she was seeing. Yin yelled out in a different language. Star's eyes were shut tight. Cosmo's breathe was held.

Somehow . . . it seemed Clover was right. All anyone ever needed was a little luck. Ismeral Nexis eyes shot open long enough to see Cosmo flying straight towards him, regardless of the risk he carried.

"_I can't believe one of my stupid ideas actually worked._"

The dragon collided against the wizard hard as he clawed into the invisible ground below. Ismeral Nexis concentration was broken, thus began feeling the effects of the void himself. Now the black hole was hostile.

"You imbecile!" Ismeral Nexis cried out. Grabbing the dragon's legs to save himself. "If I'm going to die then I'm taking you with me!"

Cosmo struggled to keep himself in the ground. The vacuum was stronger than ever as the human and dragon were beginning to feel themselves being lifted into the air. Cosmo made sure to keep his claws in the ground. The dragon could feel his heart beating through his chest as he looked back toward the rift, only to see the other dragons were beginning to get sucked in themselves. If this kept up, everyone would be doomed.

The yellow scaled reptile shook his leg and flapped his wings but to no avail. The wizard was determined to bring him down for what he did. Cosmo looked down and attempted to breathe fire onto Ismeral, only to have the rift suck the flames into the void. It was useless.

Cosmo felt his strength beginning to fade. He knew he couldn't hold on much longer, but there was nothing he could do. He was done for.

"Blaze!" Cosmo called out, getting the red dragon's attention. Blaze slowly looked over toward his direction to silently tell him he was listening. Cosmo closed his eyes for a short moment, then opened them back up. "Tell Kali I'm sorry! I didn't want it to end like this, but I have no other choice!"

"Cosmo!" Blaze cried. "Don't do it! There has to be another way!"

Cosmo shook his head. "Tell everyone I'm sorry! I would be lying if I said this wasn't fun and life-changing! . . . Goodbye!"

Then, just like that, Cosmo let go. Blaze cried out toward him as he helplessly watched Cosmo and Ismeral fly off toward the void. The red dragon was unable to do a thing as Ismeral fell into the black hole. Blaze looked away as Cosmo was sucked in as well.

It was amazing on how fast things could go wrong. Yin saw the whole thing, but she too, was unable to help. The void begun to die down, giving everyone the break and relief they needed. But the white dragoness couldn't believe it. Cosmo was gone. He had sacrificed himself to save everyone else.

Yin closed her eyes as she felt a tear begin to well up in her eye. Regardless that they had won, Yin didn't think it was worth the sacrifice they had all just witnessed.

While her eyes were closed, Yin felt the effects of the void suddenly appear once more. Startled, she quickly opened her eyes to find herself running from the rift itself once more. Then she saw him. Cosmo was alive once more, but Ismeral had his grip on the dragon's leg just like before.

"Tell Kali I'm sorry! I didn't want it to end like this, but I have no other choice!"

"Cosmo!" Blaze cried. "Don't do it! There has to be another way!"

Yin was already on her way to make a difference. No matter what she had to do, she was going to save Cosmo.

"Cosmo!" Yin shouted at the top of her lungs. The yellow dragon acted as if he didn't hear her.

"Tell everyone I'm sorry! I would be lying if I said this wasn't fun and life-changing! . . . Goodbye!"

"Cosmo!" Yin called out once more. She fired off an ice spike toward the dragon, only to have the attack become sucked in by the void.

But it worked. Cosmo noticed Yin's signal and looked over toward her with the saddest look on his face.

"Don't give up!" Yin exclaimed. "There's another way out of this! Don't do it!"

"There is no other way out!" Cosmo yelled back.

"There is!"

Cosmo looked up to see Star slowly heading toward him. Surprised, Cosmo called out to him. "Star! What are you doing!"

"Ending this! I'm going to need everyone's help to do it!"

Star clawed into the ground and closed his eyes in concentration. Cosmo wore a concerned look on his face as he began to lose grip. Whatever Star was doing, he better hurry it up. The yellow dragon wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up.

Then Cosmo got his wish. Star opened his eyes to see an astonishing sight. They were bright white. Ismeral Nexis yelled out toward the dragon as Star spread his wings, setting off an intense wave of light into the area. Cosmo had no idea what this was, but it blinded him. Not long after that, Cosmo began to feel the effects of the rift begin to die down.

Soon enough, the blinding light also began to dim down. What Cosmo saw astonished him. The rift was gone. Everyone was fine. But Ismeral Nexis still seemed to be alive, but weak. He laid on the ground behind Cosmo as the yellow dragon quickly stood to his feet to make his way over toward Star. The black dragon looked toward the wizard, who slowly stood back to his feet.

"I was waiting for you to pull that move," Star remarkably said toward the wizard. "The void is powerful, but is energy consuming. With the six by my side this time, you will be banished once more."

Suddenly, a white beam of light escaped Yin's maul, striking the wizard back down to his knees. Surprised, Cosmo looked down toward the wizard to see him sweating nervously toward Star.

Then a pink beam of light escaped Myrianda's maul, also striking the wizard. Both Yin's and Myrianda's beam streamed continuously, weakening the wizard even more.

"I'll escape just like last time!" Ismeral Nexis threatened. "When I do . . . I'll be sure to kill you first!"

Another beam of light struck the wizard. This time it was Clover. Cosmo watched as the green light entered into Ismeral's body, keeping him down on the ground.

"Not where you are going," Star calmly replied.

A red beam of light suddenly escaped Blaze's maul, colliding against Ismeral's side. Cosmo could guess what was going on, but he had his mind set on the wizard.

"And where," Ismeral began, feeling an intense pain in his body as he was forced to stay still. "Might that be?"

Cosmo looked toward Isis to see her mouth open; only to see a black beam come forth, striking the wizard in a continuous stream, just like all the others.

Star grinned. "Where do you think? The most feared and unknown realm of them all."

Ismeral Nexis grew wide-eyed as Cosmo felt himself open his mouth as if he were under someone else's control. A fiery feeling built up in the pit of his stomach, then escaped through his throat and out of his mouth. It surprised the dragon to see a bright yellow beam shoot out and strike the wizard, weakening him even further.

"No!" Ismeral Nexis exclaimed in a pleading tone.

Then Star himself hovered straight up into the air without the use of his wings. Then Star finally raised his voice toward the wizard one last time. "Ismeral Nexis. I hereby banish you to the void for all of eternity."

Cosmo began to feel the familiar effects of the void all over again. It made his heart race all over again, even when the winds didn't seem to affect him.

"CURSE YOU!" Ismeral Nexis shouted at the top of his lungs.

Star didn't seem effected by the wizard's words as the pitch black hole began to form over the wizard. The black dragon watched as the wizard tried to struggle, but to no avail. The wizard began to break apart into small pieces as his body was being broken down to enter the forbidden realm.

Slowly being sucked into the void, Ismeral Nexis looked up toward the black dragon with the most hateful look on his face. "One day! Remember that! One day I will return!"

Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Cosmo felt the void begin to die down as the strange beam he used on the wizard had ceased. He also noticed everyone else had stopped as well. Then everything slowly began to black out.

He didn't know what was going on, but he thought he was going to be sick. He couldn't feel, breathe, hear, or anything. It felt as if he were dizzy and going to vomit, but never could. An empty space in his mind that could never be filled. The yellow scaled dragon felt cold and lonely in the darkness that surrounded him.

Feeling soon returned to Cosmo as a light began to show itself in the darkness. His queasiness quickly passed as he took a deep breath, then finally had the urge to open his eyes. When he did, he found himself looking at the same black crystal from before. Both his paws were still on it from when he first entered the crystal, along with everyone else's that surrounded it, excluding Star. One by one, everyone stood back to all four feet, silently getting their bearings back in place.

"Cosmo . . . you're safe now."

The voice sounded all too familiar. Cosmo quickly turned toward his left, ignoring everyone else, seeing a sight that brought a smile unto his face.

"Kaida," Cosmo began, looking at her spectral form.

Her ghost seemed to smile right back at him. "You did it Cosmo. I know you could."

"But if it weren't for you, then I may not have."

"Heh," Kaida began with a smirk. "You're probably right. By the way, your friends look a little spooked."

"What?"

Cosmo slowly turned to see five out of six dragons with their mouths agape. Star was the only one not surprised by the ghost of Kaida.

Cosmo smiled. "Don't mind them." He turned back toward Kaida. "So . . . how are you here with me?"

Kaida rolled her eyes. "I knew you would ask that. Well . . . you know how they say a spirit can tie him or herself to an object? Well I tied myself to you."

"Me?"

"Of course," Kaida replied. "How do you think I knew so much about you? Velxtra Forest, the fairy realm, and all the battles you've been through? I just never showed myself because it would consume too much of my energy. The energy I needed for now."

Then the ground began to shake. It knocked Cosmo off balance for a moment, before the mild tremor stopped. The yellow dragon looked back at Kaida. "What was that?"

Star was the first to answer. "Without Ismeral Nexis powering the crystal, it's beginning to lose its power."

"Meaning?" Myrianda asked, not getting what he meant.

"Meaning," Clover began. "The planet is only going to accelerate toward our home until the crystal is detonated."

Yin grimaced. "Now what do we do?"

"Get out of here!" Kaida exclaimed. "That's what you do! I'm here for a reason! Go to the portal before it's too late!"

Cosmo looked toward Kaida worriedly.

Kaida read his mind. "Don't worry! I'll be fine! Things will be no different between you and me after this Cosmo! Just go!"

Cosmo nodded, then walked over toward the spectral dragon. Kaida was nearly about to object toward his actions, until Cosmo wrapped his arms around her. The yellow dragon was happy to know that she was still as solid as she would have been if she were really there.

"I really missed you," Cosmo silently whispered.

"I missed you too." The ground shook once more as Kaida continued. "Now go."

The yellow dragon made a simple nod, turned then followed the other six dragons down the stairs of the tower. Everyone was silent, too focused on escaping to even speak to one another. Soon enough, the group all exited the tower to find themselves underneath the black clouds in the same dark atmosphere as before. Every dragon looked at one another, reading each other's minds, then made a sprint through the front gate.

As soon as Cosmo emerged from within the tower walls, he found himself staring down the distant horizon to see a large group of dark beings. Without a word, Cosmo ran ahead, flapping his wings to get in the air. The others were quick to follow his example, just as another earthquake began to make itself known.

It felt like several minutes had passed before they caught up with the group of dragons. The winds were beginning to grow fierce as time passed, making it tougher for the group to fly. As soon as they flew over the group of angered dark beings, Cosmo spotted the purple dragon himself, along with the others.

"Cosmo!" Spyro called out, getting his attention.

Cosmo didn't stop flying for him though. He only yelled back as he flew by him. "We need to get out of here!"

Spyro looked over at Cynder, who looked back at him worriedly. Without hesitation, they joined the group in the race back to the portal. Sparx kept close to Spyro as Kali sped herself up to Cosmo.

"What's going on?" Kali quickly asked, barely keeping up with the yellow dragon.

"We just need to get out of here before it's too late!" Cosmo simply answered.

Every dragon remained quiet, ignoring all the dark beings they just left behind. Cosmo was too nervous to talk. His only focus was making it to the portal safely along with everyone else.

The winds slowly but surely began to grow worse. Cosmo looked up into the skies, barely seeing gaps in the dark clouds above. It was impossible to tell how close the dark planet was on colliding with the dragon world, but there couldn't have been much time left.

With each passing second, Cosmo grew more nervous, worried, and even scared. Fatigue began to set in as they closed in on the black fog that surrounded the portal, which only urged everyone to push to their limits. The winds blew even more furious, making Sparx hide beside Spyro so the wind would blow him away.

"I don't know much longer I can fly!" Kali shuddered. Her breathing was growing more heavy with each flap of her wings.

Cosmo quickly nudged her, urging her to continue. "You have to! I won't go back without you!"

"But the wind is killing me," Kali silently continued.

Suddenly, Kali gotten the break she needed. The winds miraculously switched directions. Now the wind was blowing with them, helping the dragons for a change.

"How's that?" Clover asked, sounding more fatigued than before.

Cosmo nodded. "Thank you."

Clover grinned in response then focused on flying once more.

None of the dragons could tell how bad the earthquakes were at the moment. It was impossible to listen for them due to the cold winds whistling in their ears, but it certainly was helping now. Cosmo just knew that there wasn't much time left on the clock. But with the winds at their backs now, it made the trip even easier.

Cosmo shut his eyes, hoping to block himself out of the madness he was in. Somehow, he succeeded. Cosmo flooded his mind with past memories, of his time in the dragon world. From when he first arrived and met Kaida to that same dragon teaching him how fly. Cosmo smiled toward the memories as he remembered each one vividly, almost as if he was in a dream.

His memories rushed on by. From the tornado incident to the maze of Velxtra Forest, all the memories were clear as day. Not long passed until the fairy realm passed through his head. Cosmo couldn't help but smile at the good times he had. Soon, his recent memories invaded his mind. The war against Ismeral Nexis would soon be over now. The yellow dragon just hoped he would live in the dragon world long enough to celebrate it.

"Cosmo!" Kali cried out. "Snap out of it!"

Cosmo's eyes shot open to reveal they were close enough to the portal to start their descent. But he also saw an obstacle in the way. Several dark beings were hovering above the fog in wait. Void infected troops. They didn't have time for this.

The dragons dodged several fireballs, earth missiles, and icicles as they propelled themselves forward toward the portal. Star quickly let out a cry of fear, stunning most of the dragons in the process. Cosmo looked over toward Kali to see her nodding toward him. The yellow dragon turned back toward the dark fog, just as he was engulfed into its unwelcoming arms.

He couldn't see much after that. The fog was much thicker than when they first arrived. Random attacks flew by the dragon's head as he headed straight into the heart of the cloud. Then he saw it. The black swirling clouds that formed the portal back home. Cosmo stopped as he ducked his head, avoiding earth missiles and icicles that flew overhead. He looked back to see Kali wasn't far behind, but she was limping.

"Kali!" Cosmo called out, just as the others began to show up one by one.

Cosmo quickly ran back to help her. When he was by her side once more, the yellow scaled dragon found the cause of her limp.

"No!" Cosmo cried out.

A large icicle was in her side. Blood seeped through the wound as Cosmo brought both their heads down as more attacks flew overhead.

Cosmo wrapped a wing and paw around Kali to help her up, forcing her to move. "I'm not leaving you behind!"

"I know . . . you won't," Kali weakly replied.

More attacks flew overhead as they moved on. The other dragons provided as much cover as they could, despite the short visibility.

The earth below began to rumble once more, even stronger than all the others. Kali was knocked off balance, causing Cosmo to give her even more support than before.

"Come on!" Cosmo desperately encouraged. "I can save you but you have to help me!"

Kali knew it was useless to tell him otherwise. She quickly forced herself to her feet just as the quake ended, only for Cosmo to force her forward.

"We need to get through the portal!" Clover exclaimed. "It's beginning to shrink!"

Cosmo growled toward himself. "_I won't lose you too Kali. If you die . . . then I die._"

Regardless of the deadly projectiles he dodged by sheer luck and the incredible odds that were against him, Cosmo slowly made his way toward the portal. He looked ahead to see that Clover was right. Their only way home was already half the size it was before.

Cosmo quickly launched a fireball toward dark being that showed himself from the left. The attack was off a little, but the dark dragon was caught in the blast. As soon as the explosion carried the dark being out of sight, Cosmo turned and grew surprised when he saw several plasma spears were levitating in the air behind him. Not long after that, the spears took off toward several dark beings that emerged from the fog, hitting each one directly.

Star stepped to the side, allowing Cosmo and Kali to go through the portal first. As soon as the portal engulfed them, Yin and Myrianda quickly followed. Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx were next, mainly because Sparx left the two dragons behind out of nervousness.

"Come on Star!" Clover encouraged as Blaze walked through the portal. "There's nothing more we can do here."

Before the portal was too small, Clover jumped through without hesitation. Star turned back toward the dark beings that slowly approached him. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor souls as he turned back toward the portal to jump through, just as it shrunk down to miniscule size.


	65. Goodbye Forever

Chapter 65

Epilogue

Goodbye Forever

The transition between worlds was, once again, not a pleasant one. Cosmo tumbled in the air as he fell through the portal, disoriented as he did so. The yellow dragon kept his eyes close as a cold wind rushed around him in the blackened tunnel of darkness. All he could think about right now was Kali.

Finally, Cosmo could feel the end of the transition was near. He opened his eyes just in time to see a glowing light, which quickly engulfed him, blinding him as it did. The next he knew was a sudden pain shooting through his chest. Cosmo groaned as he rubbed his eyes to clean his vision, only to find out he had landed on his stomach when he was thrown out the portal.

It was dark in the cold desert. Cosmo's vision was very limited as he quickly looked around for Kali. Spotting her just a few feet away, the yellow scaled reptile quickly made his way over toward her, just as the others began to come through the portal. It saddened Cosmo to see the ice spike still in Kali's side, which was beginning to show a red tint due to Kali's blood seeping through her wound.

"_What do I do?_" Cosmo panicked. "_Do I leave the wound alone or melt the icicle? If I melt __it then it could open her wound up and she would bleed out. But what if the icicle is causing too much pain for her?_"

"Cosmo!"

He didn't move. The dragon was too worried about Kali to even pay attention to Isis as she approached him from behind. The fur dragon took her place beside Cosmo as he took a closer look on Kali's wound. The blue dragoness was quiet, able to tell Cosmo was more than worried about her.

"Cosmo!" Isis called out once more, finally getting his attention. The yellow dragon turned his gaze to the fur dragon as she continued in a more calm tone. "You need to melt the icicle."

"But what if she bleeds out?" Cosmo asked, turning back toward Kali.

"Cosmo, look at her!" Isis shouted. "She's freezing on the inside-out! You have to melt the icicle!"

"What?" Cosmo then noticed Kali was shivering. No wonder she was being so quiet. "But what do we do after that?"

Isis grinned as she turned her head toward the group of dragons making their way toward them. Amongst that group was Star, who Isis seemed most interested in. "That's when Star uses his fifteenth element. Healing."

Everyone looked at one another with unreadable faces. Cosmo was unsure what they were thinking, but one thing was for sure. He never heard of this element before.

"Healing?" Spyro began, uncertain of whether he heard of this element before. "I've never heard of it. Red spirit gems can heal you, but they've gotten kind of rare after the fall of Malefor. Is that what you're talking about?"

Isis shook her head. "I've seen this element before. I saw someone use it in the hospital."

"Who?" Clover asked.

"Doesn't matter," Isis answered. "Star has knowledge of all the elements; therefore he must be able to use healing."

"But I've never used it before," Star began, unsure of whether he could use the element or not.

"You got to have it in you somewhere Star," Isis replied confidently. "You just have to do it."

_Meanwhile_

She couldn't feel him anymore. Kaida was smiling, happy to know that Cosmo had escaped. If Cosmo was safely away from the planet, then the others must have not been far behind. The silver scaled dragoness put a few more minutes on the clock, just to be sure that they were safely through the portal before she destroyed the crystal.

Finally, Kaida turned toward the crystal just as she heard some commotion from down stairs. It was obviously the dark beings attempting to stop her. But how could you stop a ghost?

It was time. Kaida began to charge an earth missile, aimed toward the crystal, then let the missile fly. The attack collided against the crystal, shattering itself in the process of cracking the crystal. It looked as if it were going to take a few more missiles.

The silver dragoness quickly formed another missile then fired, hitting the dark crystal once more. The crack expanded as it begun to pulsate even more. Another earthquake began to shake the tower once more as a result of the crystal being attacked. Kaida didn't stop there. She fired off another missile, hitting it once again. The crack had stretched from top to bottom, as well as a chip breaking off of it. One more should do it. Just as the dark beings spotted Kaida's ghostly figure, she fired one last earth missile toward the crystal, hitting it directly in the middle.

_Meanwhile_

Cosmo was careful to melt the icicle that punctured Kali's side. A small, steady stream of flame escaped the dragon's mouth, quickly melting the ice spike. As soon as it was melted, Cosmo expected to see blood. He was surprised to find that there was none escaping the wound.

"She's not bleeding," Cosmo indicated, unsure of whether this was good or not.

Isis shook her head. "The icicle must have frozen her blood around the wound. Not good. This can only lead to clots in her bloodstream."

Star was quick to make his way to Kali. He stared her wound down, swallowed a lump in his throat, then hovered his right paw over the hole. The black dragon closed his eyes and began to concentrate. The healing element sounded familiar, but he never even attempted to perform it until now.

Suddenly there was a bright light in the sky. Star clenched his eyes tighter as everyone else looked up into the blinding light; hardly able to see what was going on.

Eventually, the light began to dim itself, revealing to be one of the most popular sights in the world right now. The dark planet was done for. Spyro was able to see the sun beginning to show itself once more. The sun's warm rays happily lit the whole desert up; finally ending the hours of darkness they had been walking in.

"Come on!" Star exclaimed. His eyes were still shut as he concentrated even harder, blocking out everything on the outside world.

Cosmo prayed this would work. He couldn't lose Kali, not when they were so close. He looked back up into the sky, squinting his eyes in the sunlight as he did. It was difficult to tell whether there was debris where the dark planet used to be or not.

Forgetting about that for the time being, Cosmo turned back toward Kali as he put a comforting on her shoulder. Then he noticed that she wasn't shivering anymore. He looked up to Kali's eyes, only to find them closed.

The yellow scaled dragon quickly reared his free paw back as the others wondered what he was doing. Without second thoughts, Cosmo slapped Kali across her cheek, opening the dragon's eyes once more.

"I'm sorry," Cosmo apologized. "But you're getting through this. After all those months of putting up with me, I will refuse to live here without you."

Then the most wonderful thing happened. Everyone gasped in awe as Star's outstretched paw began to glow a bright yellow color. Star himself was surprised by the phenomenon as the light stretched the short distance from his paw to Kali's body.

Kali immediately began to feel its strange energy enter her body, healing her wounds as it did. Star continued to concentrate. He honestly didn't think he could do it, but the black dragon wasn't arguing here.

Cosmo was amazed when Kali's paw touched his that was on her shoulder. His eyes were wide with astonishment as he witnessed the hole on his side begin to slowly close.

"_I told you everything would be alright._"

Cosmo smiled. "_Yes . . . I suppose you did._"

Kali's wound had completely sealed itself by now. Star's energy was drained as he quickly grew fatigued, but still continued to push the element into Kali. He had to be sure she was better. Then Cosmo noticed a slight scar where the wound used to be. It was barely noticeable, but would become a symbol of what happened here today.

"It's okay," Kali assured toward Star. "I'm feeling better."

The black dragon finally ceased his healing. Somehow, he found himself out of breath, tired by his performance. Healing was a wonderful, hidden element, but it would really suck the energy right out of you.

"Phew," Sparx began, wiping sweat from his brow. "Glad all that's over." The golden dragonfly stretched his arms as he continued, "I think we could all go a few days without someone trying to kill us now."

Cynder looked at Sparx, rolled her eyes, then turned back toward Spyro. "Who knew everything would crumble to dust so fast?"

Spyro smiled. "At least everyone made it out alive. That is what's important."

"Yes," Clover began, relieved that it was over. "Ismeral Nexis has been banished to the void. Never again will he cause chaos unto your world."

"Void?" Sparx questionably said. "I don't know. I have seen some pretty creepy things in my day."

Clover chuckled. "Trust me. No one knows what the void is exactly, but whoever goes in has never come back out."

"That's all I need to hear," Sparx replied in relief.

Cosmo, however, had his attention elsewhere. Straight into Kali's eyes. "I'm so glad you're safe. I thought I was going to lose you."

Kali shrugged. "Everything is alright now. All that's left is to go home and celebrate."

The blue dragoness slowly stood to her feet with the help of Cosmo. The yellow dragon smiled, seeing that she was well on her way as she begun to take a few steps, acting as if there wasn't a hole in her before. Star really did do a good job in healing her.

Cosmo happily began to follow Kali as she was taking her few steps, but then noticed something odd. Somehow, he felt heavier than before. It was as if he was weak and fatigued, but it didn't make much sense of why it was happening.

"Is everything alright?" Cynder asked, noticing Cosmo beginning to struggle to walk.

Isis noticed the yellow dragon's predicament as well. She was the first to make a move to help him out, but she too, was somehow weakened. It felt as if there were weights on her legs.

"What's going on?" Myrianda began, slowly forcing her to walk.

"It's happening to me as well," Yin added, attempting to make her way to Myrianda's side.

"Me too," Blaze informed, sluggishly making his way toward Yin and Myrianda. He turned toward Clover to see him struggling as well.

"This is uncanny," the green dragon began, worried about what was going on. "Anyone else?"

Star, Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, and Kali looked at one another, confused by what was going on. The purple dragon spoke for everyone. "We're fine."

Then Cosmo grew wide-eyed. His heart began to race as he turned toward Isis, only to see a tear beginning to form in her eye. "Cosmo . . ." she began, unable to finish.

"No," the yellow dragon lowly said.

"Cosmo?" Kali questioned, making her way back toward him. "Please tell me you're alright."

Cosmo shook his head. "I'm sorry Kali." His voice sounded irregular as he too, began to show tears in his eyes.

Everyone looked at one another, confused by what was going on. Then Kali saw it. Cosmo's feet were beginning to fade from existence itself.

"Cosmo!" Kali exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him without second thoughts.

"I should have told you before," Cosmo managed. "Our presence is no longer needed in this world. Therefore, we have to leave."

Kali squeezed Cosmo tighter. "No! You can't go!"

Isis looked at herself as well. She too was beginning to fade from existence. The other four were as well.

"What's happening to us Cosmo!" Yin shouted out of fear.

A tear rolled down Cosmo's eyes as he looked toward her. "We're leaving the dragon realm and going back to our realm."

"But I don't want to!"

Cosmo shut his eyes. "It doesn't matter what we want. Our role in this world is finished . . . so we have no choice but to disappear . . . forever."

By this time, Isis was beside Cosmo. She wanted to be beside him as long as she could before her time was up.

Kali sniffed as her tears began to drop onto the desert sands below. A cold breeze blew through the desert as Kali wiped her eyes, still in the embrace of Cosmo. "But what about our child? I don't want to raise him without you!"

Everyone looked at one another except for Isis, who knew that Kali was carrying a child. Cosmo pulled back Kali to look her in the eyes. "I'm sorry for putting you through this. I didn't want to tell you about this because I was afraid of what you would do. It wasn't right for me to keep this secret from you. From everyone. They all had a right to know. I just wanted you all to live the rest of your lives in the dragon world without carrying this burden." He wiped the tears from his eyes. "But you're strong Kali. I've seen what you can do. I know you can do this without me."

"But I don't want to . . ." Kali silently replied.

More of Cosmo's body began to fade out. The dragon's heart began to beat faster as he saw Kali's depressive expression. "I don't want to leave here either. I wouldn't want anything else other than to stay here with you until the end of my life. But it just can't happen. I'm sorry."

"Then I suppose this means goodbye," Clover began, saddened himself by the situation they were involved in. "I must say that this has been a unique experience for me. I will never forget what we've gotten ourselves into."

Blaze nodded. "I haven't known you all for very long, but I would be filled with regret if I left without saying goodbye. It's really been fun for me."

"Same," Yin added in, anguished at their situation. "I've come to know each one of you as my friends. I will miss all of you terribly. Even you Myrianda. I don't care how many times you got us in trouble, I will never forget you."

Myrianda showed a smile. "I really didn't mean it Yin. I don't know why I drink or why I got us into trouble. But at least I get the chance to say I'm sorry. It won't be the same not having you sitting in the stool beside me."

Isis looked up toward Cosmo, then toward the rest of everyone. "If I don't take the time to say how much I've had fun with you all, I would regret it for the rest of my life. I'll admit . . . it was hard when I first arrived in the dragon world, especially when I was a cat. But each one of you made this wonderful experience easier for me. I'll miss you all. Who knows . . . maybe we'll get lucky enough to run into each other on our world."

Clover smiled. "Looking forward to it."

Then Cosmo noticed that his legs were missing, yet, somehow they were all still standing. Every one of the six's limbs were gone. It was slowly beginning to spread as even more of their bodies were beginning to disappear.

"I'm sorry it had to be like this," Spyro began. I wish it could have been different. All of you really made a difference in my life."

"Mine as well," Cynder added in. Cosmo could tell both of them were saddened by their goodbyes just by the tremble in their voices. "Cosmo . . . Isis . . . without you two around, things will be a lot different for me. I'll miss you all."

Even Sparx seemed saddened by the six's disappearances. "For some reason . . . I have to say something. I'm happy that you all came here to save us. Umm . . . thanks."

Spyro smiled. "You all better treasure that dearly. Sparx never says that."

The golden dragonfly shrugged.

"I'm glad to have met you all," Cosmo began, not taking his eyes off Kali. "Isis, you were the first of the six I met. I wish we could have more time, but I'm afraid that all of it is gone now. I'll never forget you."

Isis finally showed a smile toward him.

"Yin, if your singing voice sounds just as good back in our realm, I do hope that you will turn it into a career. When we first met, you sung one of the most beautiful songs I ever heard."

More of their bodies began to fade. Their tails were gone along with the lower half's of their bodies.

"Myrianda, I don't care what anyone says; you were the one who would always cause me to laugh out of the six of us. Don't ever lose that personality of yours." He then smiled. "Just ease up on the drinking."

Myrianda couldn't help but laugh on the inside toward the yellow dragon.

"Blaze. You always seemed to be quiet, but you always seemed to know what you were doing. I could just tell you are a good guy just by your actions."

Cosmo looked over toward him to see a grin on his face. "I'll miss you too."

The yellow dragon turned back toward Kali to see more tears rolling down her cheeks. "Clover . . . you always seemed to be the smartest one out of all of us. I never got to know you or Blaze as much as the others, but I know that you were all the best of friends that I could ever hope to have."

Clover showed a simple but satisfied grin toward Cosmo.

"Star . . . without you, none of this would have been possible. If you didn't come here, then none of us would have a reason to be together. For this, I thank you. This was an incredible journey that I will never forget. I'm happy that you were a part of it."

Star grinned, showing signs of sadness in his voice. "Without any of you . . . I'm sure this journey would have been different. I must thank you all for the wonderful experience you brought me through. Through all of your trainings and just being around you all, it has been the best time of my life."

It was then that Cosmo couldn't feel his limbs anymore. He looked down to see his body beginning to break up into small pieces, only for them to disappear into the air. The yellow dragon looked back toward Kali. "I'm going to miss you. I'm sorry it had to be this way."

Before missing his chance, Cosmo leaned forward and planted his lips on Kali's. The blue dragoness quickly kissed Cosmo back, not missing her final chance to show her affection toward him. Tears fell. Hearts were broken. But nothing was as satisfying for Cosmo than spending the last few moments of his dragon life with the love of his life.

Cosmo regretfully pulled himself away before they all disappeared completely. "Goodbye Kali. I wish it didn't have to be this way."

"No!" Kali exclaimed, not wanting to believe this was true. "Don't leave me in this world alone Cosmo! Please!"

Then the yellow dragon disappeared. Now . . . he was gone forever, along with everyone else. Just like that, the six were gone. Disappeared without any trace whatsoever.

"No!" Kali shouted, reaching out to where Cosmo used to be. She broke down into tears as the remained dragons made their over to comfort her the best they could.

There wasn't anything they could do for her broken heart. Everyone was silent as Kali wept over the loss of Cosmo. Who knew that such a victorious day would end so badly?

"He's gone Kali," Spyro began. "I'm sorry."

_Later that Day_

Throughout the day, many of the missing dragons began to turn back up in the city, claiming that they had no recollection of what had happened to them. The hospital began to bustle with activity as the day went on. Delilia made it her goal to save as many patients as she could. Static and Yashmira were with her a hundred percent of the way.

Kali, Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, and Star arrived in the city many hours later after the destruction of the dark planet. Still saddened that Cosmo was gone, Kali made it her duty to tell everyone about the six's bravery. Without them, none of this would have been possible.

Making their way into the Elder Hall, they were greeted by Ignitus who somehow already knew about the six's disappearances. It didn't surprise Spyro or Cynder one bit, but they were still glad to see he was okay. Volteer too, was quite alright, but he seemed busy trying to think up of a name for their triumphant day. Eventually, he came up with one. ROW-day. When asked about it, Volteer simply said it stood for the Rise of Warfang day. Surely he could do better, but Spyro just left him alone.

Spyro was also surprised to see a cheetah he hadn't seen in a long time. Hunter was also in the Elder Hall, explaining that his village was nearly overrun by the dark beings. It wasn't until they all saw the great explosion in the sky that the dark beings just simply fainted, began to revert to their original colors, then woke up to find themselves normal dragons once again. It made the purple dragon more than satisfied to know that the cheetah was okay and doing well.

Star decided to head to the hospital to put his healing ability to some use. He couldn't help but think of the dragon Isis mentioned that used this element, but it was probably best to leave it alone. Everyone in the hospital was nearly oblivious to who he really was, until he decided that he wanted to be orange scaled. Afterwards, he received many thanks for his bravery and the destruction of the dark planet. Every time he did, Star made sure to mention the six as well as the others as well.

Torch and Micha had gone to their home to make sure it was still standing. They were happy to see that, somehow it was. Both of them were happy that things would eventually return to normal, but they never found Cerulean. Torch and Micha had no idea of what happened to the child. They could only hope she was okay.

Isis's mysterious white scaled friend became quite lonely when she heard the news of the fur dragon's disappearance. It saddened her to know Isis was gone forever, but ever since that cat showed up at her front doorstep, the white dragoness became more social than before. She still made sure to do her part in the hospital as she began to warm up toward Kali. It wasn't easy to say goodbye to a loved one. The white scaled dragoness did everything in her power to comfort Kali, telling her everything would be okay. She also told her that if she needed anything at all then to look her up, even though Kali was never told what her name actually was.

Sadly, Frederick never made it through the night. Aruto did everything in his power to keep him alive, but the human had lost too much blood. The swordsman made sure to give him a proper burial.

The remaining humans were once again, welcomed unto the city of Warfang for their heroic deeds. Not every dragon was content with them in the city however, mainly because of what the humans did in the past. It didn't bother any one of them. They knew it would take some time for them to gain all the dragon's trust.

Strangely enough, Jaggle was nowhere to be found. No one knows where he went, or even noticed that he was missing.

Kali was already well on her way home. She had no idea how she would get on with her life without Cosmo. No matter how long or how short it would last; for every hello, there must always be a goodbye. Kali just didn't know how sudden it would be.

_Human Realm_

_Middle East_

_33 21' N 44 25 E?_

When he opened his eyes, he saw nothing but darkness. His back ached a little as he sat in an upright position only to rub the blurriness out of his eyes. Then he saw a small hole in a wall not too far from where he was. It was then that he looked at himself.

He was a human again. Cosmo, or Steven as of right now, felt his own body to make sure this was for real. His AK-47 lay beside him and his pistol was in its holster, just like they were before. Strangely enough, there were several grenades on the ground around his automatic weapon. Then he remembered Melissa. The poor girl became stranded out there when the bunker collapsed. Such a terrible fate, but nothing could be done right now.

Grabbing the AK-47 as well as the grenades that Melissa gave him, Steven made his way over toward the rocks that blocked the way. He peered through the small hole, only to see the sun was shining and everything was quiet. Steven pushed his fingers through the hole and attempted to pull the rocks back, only to have them slightly move before getting stuck.

Scratching his head, Steven looked around for anything he could use to pry the rocks out of the way. Then he looked down toward his grenades and hatched an idea. Steven pulled out a grenade and stuffed it into the hole, making sure it would fit before he actually tried it. Retrieving the grenade, Steven decided it was time to pull the pin. As soon as he did, he stuffed the grenade back in the hole and ran as far back into the dark bunker as he could. Just as he did, the grenade exploded, sending chunks of rock out of the way from the blast it caused.

Looking back at his work, Steven saw the hole was larger than it as before, but definitely not big enough for him to crawl through. Luckily, Melissa had handed him her grenades before her unfortunate fate. Now Steven knew why she did it.

Pulling the pin on another grenade, Steven set the explosive in the hole and quickly ran back to avoid the shrapnel. When the grenade exploded, Steven threw his hands over his head as an initial reaction to the blast as more rocks were blown out of the way. Steven then made his way back toward the gap, only to find it still wasn't big enough for him to crawl through. One more ought to do it.

Steven pulled the pin on another grenade and set it in place. Once he did, he repeated what he did before, escaping the shards of rock as the grenade exploded. The hole was much bigger than what it was before. Steven made his way toward the hole to find out it was now big enough for him to get through.

Because of the explosions, the gap in the rock had gotten hot, so Steven decided to let it cool before he crawled through. The human remembered the dragon realm well. How he wished he could go back, but he had a life here as well. It was tough to leave Kali behind. One of the toughest things Steven had ever done.

Making his way through the gap in the rock, now that it had cooled, Steven found himself underneath the hot sun, just as he heard a few voices behind him.

"I heard a something from over here," a voice emanated.

It sounded friendly enough. Steven looked around himself to find he was in the same trenches as before. It was just littered with bodies, debris, and dropped weapons on the ground. Steven looked around, but didn't see Melissa's body anywhere. It didn't surprise Steven one bit. She got hit by a tank shell after all. At least her fate was painless.

"Look! A survivor!"

Steven quickly turned behind him to see two marines making their way around the bunker he just escaped. One seemed really young while the other seemed a bit older and more experienced.

"Glad to see someone else made it out alive," the older marine said as he jumped down into the trench. "Name's Oswald."

The younger marine hopped down into the trench as well. "Jerry."

Steven smiled. "Steven. First class private."

"Steven?" Oswald began. "Oh boy, the commander will probably want to see you then. Follow me; my truck isn't parked too far from here."

Steven looked back into the bunker he had occupied earlier. It was hard to tell how long he was in there. A few minutes. An hour. He would never know. But one thing was for sure. He was never going to forget the experiences he went through while in that bunker.

_The End?_

Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things

you are, the things you never want to lose.

-Kevin Arnold

?C59?

?Even slurred words make sense?


End file.
